Eerie pillars of light appear in the sky – but what are they?

The lights appeared to float over the Sea of Japan (Picture: @totoro8201)

Locals in a small coastal town were baffled to see nine pillars of light appearing in the night sky above the ocean.

Photos of the bizarre event were shared online after dozens noticed the beams near Tottori prefecture, Japan, on May 11.

User Maashii posted a photo of the beams cutting through a cloudy night sky on X above Daisen, a small fishing town.

He told news site Hint-Pot: ‘When I looked up at the night sky in front of my house, I saw several streaks of light in the sky.’

The beams appeared in the direction of the Sea of Japan, and many have speculated aliens are behind them.

But the odd phenomenon has a reasonable explanation – and it’s not what you may think.

The phenomenon makes for beautiful photos (Picture: @maashii_taiy)

The beams appeared near a busy fishing area in Japan, and the lights are actually reflections of off-shore fishing vessel lights.

The light is refracted into the clouds, and is only seen once every few years, according to Masi-san. The phenomenon is called ‘Isaribi Kochu’.

One resident of Tottori, Marcy, moved to the town almost a decade ago and said she has only seen it three or four times.

So while the beams may not be aliens, they certainly are interesting.

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In February, Ukrainian troops captured an odd image in the night sky – what appeared to be a large black disk hovering over the country.

In the recording, translated from Ukrainian, soldiers can be heard debating what the object could be.

‘What the f*** is this? Why isn’t it moving?’ said one.

Troops from the 406th Battalion in the Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) captured the footage through one of their ‘heat vision’ quadcopter drones as the war in Ukraine rumbles on.

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