Amateur astronomer solves mystery of eerie light show in Top End skies

Several Territorians spotted some spooky lights above Darwin on Thursday evening. Was it an aircraft, a meteor shower or the beginning of an alien invasion? Watch the full video.

The source of a mysterious light show captured on film weaving eerily through the skies above the Top End overnight has been revealed following speculation about a potential close encounter.

Multiple Territorians took to social media on Thursday night to post footage of the strange lights, with a wide range of theories explored.

Some said it was a meteor shower or an aircraft, while others suggested it could be a UFO.

“Aliens are interested in us again after the Covid-19 debacle when they gave up on us,” one poster said.

The pictures and videos, taken about 7.13pm, spread quickly on social media.

Self-styled “Darwin possum man” Andrew Critchley uploaded his footage of the spooky spectacle “filmed from Fannie Bay looking to Mandorah” while posing the question: “Who wants to explain this?”

“Meteorite breaking up?” he asked.

“Moved very slowly, no noise.

“Thought it was a helicopter with a light at first, but no cloud cover and it just faded away.”

But it didn’t take long before the mystery was solved, with amateur astronomer David Finlay providing the explanation that the photos depicted a secondary boost from a rocket launch.

“The photos of it look pretty cool,” he said.

“What you can see in the photos is the expanding gas cloud out in space of the rocket exhaust.”

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute launched eight satellites from the Naro Space Center in South Korea at 6.54pm local time on Thursday, lining up with the timing of most of the social media posts.