Mysterious Light Illuminates Tasmanian Skies: Explained

What do you see in this picture? Residents of the Australian island of Tasmania saw this glowing object streaking across the sky on Tuesday and concluded it was a fireball – or a UFO.

Lee-Anne Peters, a resident of the island, photographed what she saw. "I woke up early that morning before my alarm," she recounts. "From my kitchen window, you can get a great view of the sky. I started cooking my daughter's birthday feast, she had just turned sixteen – and then I saw it!"

Peters believed she saw a fireball, but other island residents who witnessed the celestial flash thought they were seeing a UFO.

However, experts spoil the party and insist it was neither a fireball nor an alien-manned spaceship. They claim it was a completely ordinary aircraft.

"The duration for which the object was observed, as well as its speed, support this assumption," said Chris Arkell, an astronomer working in Tasmania, to the Australian news network ABC. "A meteor or burning space debris would have moved much faster."

An investigation into aircraft flying over Tasmania at the time indicated that it was likely an Airbus heading to Auckland.

"It’s just a contrail left by a jet," agrees David Finlay, another Australian expert. "People often mistake these trails for meteors. I've even encountered people who, under certain lighting conditions, thought they were seeing comets."

Lee-Anne Peters agreed to accept the explanation. After initially posting on Facebook that she saw a 'meteor fireball,' she updated it to clarify that what she saw was, in fact, "a wonderful plane painted by the rays of the rising sun."

"The main thing is that it was an exciting start to the day," she concludes.