A few hours ago, North Carolina TV station WBTV posted an image on their Facebook page that shows a giant hole in the clouds above Old Mountain Road in Iredell County. The images shared by the TV channel soon went viral, and many people outlandishly started claiming that the hole was created by an alien spaceship as it tried to land on the earth's surface.
Images of the rare sky phenomenon soon garnered attention on social media platforms like Facebook, and several people claimed that humans should prepare to combat an invasion conducted by aliens from deep space. Some people argued that the image reminded them of some iconic scenes from Hollywood sci-fi film Independence Day.
However, experts soon debunked the alien theories, and they made it clear that the structure was actually a fallstreak or hole-punch cloud. It should be noted that this weather phenomenon had previously triggered similar rumors in other parts of the country, where people misinterpreted these structures as alien flying ships.
"High to mid-level clouds, such as altocumulus, are often composed of tiny water droplets that are much colder than freezing but have yet to freeze. These "supercooled" water droplets need a "reason" to freeze, which usually comes in the form of ice crystals. Planes passing through the cloud layer can bring these ice crystals. Once the ice crystals are introduced, the water droplet quickly freezes, grow and starts to fall. A hole is left behind, which will start to expand outward as neighboring droplets start to freeze," explains National Weather Service.
A few weeks back, Dr Jim Green, a chief NASA scientist had claimed that alien life will be discovered by the United States space agency or ESA on Mars within 2021. He also added that humans are not prepared enough to accept the reality surrounding the existence of alien life.
