Strange lines have been spotted in the sky above Sheffield – but there's a simple explanation

The long trails in the night sky – captured here by Brett Bentley – were clearly visible from across the city on Sunday, September 27, and there were many different explanations doing the rounds on social media.

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Some jokers questioned whether it was a new advertising campaign by Adidas, it had lots of people were talking about chemtrail conspiracy theory, and the more outlandish suggestions included ‘swamp gas reflecting off Venus’.

But the truth, it seems, was slightly more straightforward.

As ITV weatherman Jon Mitchell was quick to point out, they were simply vapour trails left by planes travelling on very similar routes.

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"To all of you noticing the three aircraft contrails over the moon tonight, it was three @AerLingus aircraft flying into #Dublin from #Berlin #Düsseldorf and #Munich,” he commented. “Nothing really unusual but nicely lit by the moon.”