EXPLAINED: What was the strange 'UFO' light in skies over Ireland on Wednesday?

People around Ireland were left baffled on Wednesday evening after a strange bright light was spotted moving across the sky, prompting some to label it a UFO.

People took to social media in the hope of identifying the strange sight. One pilot took a photograph from his cockpit and said:

"Spotted from the cockpit on approach to Cork on a training flight. Almost triangular in shape with the bottom of the triangle quite bright, almost like lights. Slightly varying speed. Not a believer in UFOs but quite spooked by this!"

A mysterious object was spotted in the sky over Kildare, #Ireland around 6:30pm this evening.

Locals are baffled - did you see it too?

Witnesses say it hovered briefly before vanishing.#Kildare #Ireland #UFO #SkyWatch pic.twitter.com/RWVeluFkE0

— Radio News Hub (@radionewshub) October 29, 2025

Another person said: "This just happened now in Carlow, came out the garage to this in the sky, absolutely beautiful, never seen anything like this before, eventually it went into a small light/star and went off into the distance."

A third added: "Really unusual object in the sky tonight above Partry, Co. Mayo. Moving slowly across the sky, it looked like a bright dot with another bright line just above it." 

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However, as one expert said, "it's not aliens," and the object was actually one of Elon Musk’s rockets which had taken off earlier on Wednesday.

Multiple reports of strange light moving in sky over Ireland in last 15 minutes with some describing as a like a big object with light in front but no noise and moving very quickly. Reports from Southeast, Midlands and West. Moving West to East. Anyone else spot it pic.twitter.com/ej0qag9Aje

— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) October 29, 2025

Musk's Falcon 9 rocket has been on various missions recently but before it returns to Earth, it ejects leftover fuel, which freezes instantly due to the altitude. Light reflects off the frozen fuel to make it visible from Earth.

Alan O'Reilly from Carlow Weather said: "The light in the sky tonight most likely to be the Falcon 9 dumping fuel in orbit based on latest information. Not aliens this time."

Falcon 9 launches 29 @Starlink satellites from Florida pic.twitter.com/sxFIRM0tBg

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 29, 2025