A peculiar sight spotted recently in the sky above Alaska has apparently left a number of social media users wondering aloud about what exactly they saw.
According to Anchorage Daily News, a resident of the city of Palmer named Mattias Ahlvin spotted the phenomenon in question on Thursday morning as he was about to start his car.
"I looked up and I saw this strange — I mean, I would just call it a smoke column. It was a dark, gray streak across the sky that was going straight vertical," he said.
While Ahlvin initially thought that he saw a plane, he then noticed that the streak "looked like it was going straight down".
He proceeded to snap several pictures of the sight and shared them with Alaska State Troopers in case it was indeed an aircraft in distress, while his wife posted the photos on local Facebook* page and asked if anyone knew what it was.
Screenshot of social media post showing the phenomenon observed by Mattias Ahlvin in the sky above Alaska
© Photo : Facebook/Palmer Alaska Buzz
The media outlet also points out that several other people also posted similar images online, speculating that it could have been "a rocket launch, a meteor, a plane crash, a volcano or perhaps a military operation".
Meanwhile, law enforcement and a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said that the shape in the sky Ahlvin saw was likely a condensation trail from an airplane.
An online advisory released by the Alaska State Troopers stated that they believe "the photos and videos showed a contrail from the commercial jet combined with the rising sun which together caused the unique atmospheric sight".
The advisory also notes that "there have been no reports of overdue aircraft or ELT activations indicating an aircraft crash", and that "a rescue team on a helicopter flew a mission around the Lazy Mountain area this morning and located nothing suspicious and there were no signs of crashed aircraft."
*Facebook is banned in Russia over extremist activities