Mysterious 'burning trail' seen spiralling through night sky over Cambridgeshire for 20 minutes was flight contrails, experts claim

• Gerry Underwood, 55, saw the bizarre entity above Stretham, Cambridgeshire
• The unidentified object fell slowly to the ground and left a huge trail in its wake
• Eventually the burning mass disappeared behind a line of trees in the distance
• Did you see the burning object tear through the sky...? Email tips@dailymail.com 

A mysterious 'burning trail' seen spiralling through the night sky on Wednesday night prompted fevered speculation as to what it could be.

Star-gazers have put forward multiple theories including meteor showers, shooting stars, fireworks, airplane trails – and even signs of extra-terrestrial life to explain the vivid red trails and bright lights in the sky.

However astronomy experts have sought to reassure the public that these night-sky wonders are natural occurrences.

The strange trails were first spotted over Cambridgeshire by Gerry Underwood who lives on a canal boat in Stretham with his partner.

He and partner Melanie had been 'having a little fire outside' when he noticed the trail across the sky and decided to photograph it. 

He described how they watched it for 10 to 20 minutes as it coursed through the sky.

He said: 'It looked like a very thick chemtrail to start with. It looked like a short, skinny cloud.

'It wasn't moving quickly at all. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a meteorite because they are gone in seconds.

'We have seen hundreds of shooting stars but this definitely wasn't that either. 

'This was coming down very slowly and spiralling. It started to glow orange as you can see in the pictures.

'There were flames coming out of the back of it as well. It was really unusual.'

Lucy Basaran, 23, from Walsall, West Midlands, also saw it and told MailOnline: 'Yesterday evening before it went dark I noticed a bright light outside my window. The light was just below cloud level and it was bright orange.

'At first I thought it was the lights on a plane but it was too bright so I carried on looking.

'It was as if there was a car in the sky with its lights on full beam.

'The light didn't move, it stayed in the same place for a minute or so. It didn't move at all. Then I realized that route wasn't a flight path either.

'The light then got dimmer and suddenly the light disappeared. I then saw what seemed to be a faded grey outline of an aircraft. Suddenly it was completely gone. It was just after the clap for the NHS.

'I thought it might be fireworks, lanterns and aircrafts but none of them can justify what I say.

'I'm very skeptical but that proves to me that there is something out there in space.

'Then I heard there was supposed to be meteor shower and it made me think that maybe they are interested in our planet.'

Elaine Neous also saw the burning object racing through the sky on Wednesday night.

Elaine, from Coventry, West Midlands, told MailOnline: 'I too witnessed something similar in Coventry from my garden on the same day at exactly the same time.'

Sue Norman, from Fleckney, Leicestershire, told MailOnline: ‘I also saw the strange sky and the burning object.’

Nigel Sullivan from Leicestershire added: ‘I saw the same event. I saw an object passing completely through the cloud formation on Wednesday evening.’

Norman Parker from Barrow, Suffolk, told how he first saw bright lights last month.

He told MailOnline: ‘I sighted this object at 8.15pm on 15th March from the garden of my house in Barrow, Suffolk. The consensus from my friends, including a Delta Airline international pilot, was that it was probably contrails from an aircraft taken in favourable atmospheric conditions.’

Alan Ball, from Whitchurch, Shropshire, said he is convinced the blazing object he saw on Wednesday night was not a plane.

However Dr Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, said there were scientific explanations for these phenomena.

He told MailOnline: 'I think the intense bright light that people are seeing is the planet Venus in the sky, because it is dramatically bright.

'Venus is so particularly bright at the moment that you can see it during the day and at dusk it becomes obvious very quickly.

'It is very likely that people are seeing Venus in the sky before other stars become visible. And it would appear to disappear if clouds move in front of it.

'This will continue until the end of May.

'The burning object moving through the sky on Wednesday night looks a lot like an aircraft contrail to me.

'While it is impossible to say exactly what the object is without further evidence, it looks like an aircraft contrail that is laminated by the setting sun.'

Dr Massey added that star-gazers will be able to enjoy a flurry of shooting stars shortly with the onset of the Lyriad meteor shower.

He said: 'The peak of the Lyriad meteor shower is in a few days' time, on the night of the 21st and 22nd of April.

'The best time to see the meteors will be in the early hours of the 22nd April.'  

The British UFO Research Association (BUFORA) agreed and said the burning object was probably an aircraft contrail.

BUFORA Science/Astronomy Consultant Heather Dixon told MailOnline: ‘Based on the pictures and analysis in the Mail article I agree with the opinion that this was an aircraft contrail.

‘Being illuminated by the setting sun would give it the dramatic, burning, red appearance.

‘The 20 minute timescale for this would also support the idea this was a contrail.

‘Something like a Chinese lantern would burn out much more quickly and fireball meteors only last a second or two.

‘The other pictures from Coventry attached to the email show something similar.

‘In this case you can see two parallel lines which indicate a contrail from a twin engine jet to me.

‘Nothing here strikes me as too unusual.’