Floating ship 'hovers' off the coast of Kent in another stunning optical illusion

The ships looked as if they were hovering off the British coast today in yet another stunning optical illusion.

The vessels were hijacked in Minster-on-Sea, Kent, this morning, leaving onlookers baffled.

It was as if the ships were floating in the sky, high above the horizon, and as if they had come out of the water. But the bizarre appearance is to blame for a rare optical illusion that followed a series of similar observations over the past couple of months.

The same thing happened at sea back in April. And one man in Falmouth, Cornwall, was "extremely confused" just a few weeks earlier when he spotted a large vessel apparently sailing just above the waves.

A few days earlier, several cruise ships were spotted "hovering" over the waters off the coast of Paignton, Devon. Colin McCallum then spotted a large red "floating vessel" on the horizon as he travelled through Banff, Aberdeenshire.

The phenomenon, known as Fata Morgana, occurs when the sun warms the atmosphere over land or sea.

A layer of warmer air is placed on top of a layer of cold air, causing the light from the ship to bend and causing the colors to mix with each other.  

For the Fata Morgana to appear, there must be suitable atmospheric conditions. It begins with a cold air mass near the ground or water surface, which ends with a warm layer of air higher up in the atmosphere. And although this phenomenon can occur on land, they are more common in the sea, because the water helps to form the necessary layer of cool air.

BBC meteorologist David Brain has previously said the phenomenon is caused by conditions in the atmosphere that bend light. 

"Higher mirages occur due to weather conditions known as temperature inversion, when cold air is close to the sea and warmer air is above it," he said. "Because cold air is more dense than warm air, it directs light into the eyes of a person standing on the ground or on the shore, changing the view of a distant object."

The Mirage takes its name from Morgan le Fay, a sorceress from the legend of King Arthur, who is said to have used her witchcraft to lure unsuspecting sailors into her traps. 

It is believed that the mirage was the reason for the appearance of the Flying Dutchman, a" ghost ship " of the 17th century, doomed to sail the seas forever.