NASA spots ‘eerie’ UFO-shaped clouds that have left people ‘terrified’

NASA has shared some intriguing pictures of clouds from space that look like UFOs and have left people in Florida scratching their heads.

The weird clouds, which could be mistaken for jellyfish or UFOs, were seen near the Florida Keys. Some fishermen in the area were surprised when they saw these odd clouds while fishing near Key West in January.

One of the fishermen uploaded this video on TikTok, showing the strange round clouds and asking: «Bro look at these clouds, what is going on? What is that?»

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If you can’t see the video below, click here.

«It’s like a missing puzzle piece of something,» said another voice in the video, as they looked at a big round gap in one of the clouds. They even added creepy music from the TV show Stranger Things to the video, reports the Daily Star.

But now, scientists have figured out what these clouds are. At the end of January, NASA’s Terra satellite took a picture of the «Cavum clouds» from up high.

This week, NASA said that these odd clouds can make people think they’ve seen a UFO, according to the Express. For about 70 years, nobody knew why these «hole-punch clouds» or «fallstreak holes» happened.

However, in 2010, weather experts solved a mystery about strange cloud shapes. They discovered that these weird patterns happen when planes fly through «altocumulus clouds».

These clouds are small and patchy, floating between 7,000 and 23,000 feet high. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), who look after the National Science Foundation’s Centre for Studying the Atmosphere, figured out the secret of the Cavum clouds.

They discovered that these «altocumulus clouds» are made of super pure water vapour that is «supercooled». This means the water stays liquid even though it’s really cold at -15C.

By assessing information gathered from planes, satellites, and weather models, the experts discovered how the distinct-looking clouds developed. When a plane flies, its wings or propellers change the air pressure around the water droplets.

This makes the air swirl and expand in a way called «adiabatic expansion», which breaks the balance and turns the vapour into ice. NASA’s Earth Observatory captured the strange cloud formation off Florida’s coast on January 30, 2024, and showed it as their Image of the Day.

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