NASA has shared an ‘otherworldly’ Otago cloud formation spotted by one of its satellites.
The image of an elongated lenticular cloud near Middlemarch was taken by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 on September 7, 2024.
NASA then shared the image on X this week where it got nearly 40,000 views so far and comments about the image insisting it was extraterrestrial technology rather than a cloud.
“Stop trying to give things that aren’t clouds, cloud names, that you are only trying to hide to cover your butt’s,” one person commented.
“Oumuamua,” another person wrote, referencing the first interstellar object to pass through our solar system.
The cloud formation is actually spotted often enough over the Otago region to have its own nickname, the Taieri Pet.
MetService meteorologist John Law explained what caused the unique clouds to NASA.
“Strong winds from the northwest pour over the steep-sided, flat-topped Rock and Pillar Range, which runs almost perpendicular to those prevailing winds.
“As the cloud forms on the crest of this wave, it remains almost stationary in the sky and is shaped by the strong winds blowing through it,” he said.
As well as being beautiful to look at, lenticular clouds often serve as a warning to aviators in the area.
“The appearance of the Taieri Pet is a great indicator of strong winds high in the atmosphere,” Law said.
This can cause turbulence to planes and other flying vehicles perhaps not from this world…
