UFO. United Kingdom

Exeter residents wasted no time posting photos on Facebook and excited messages on Twitter about an unusual cloud in the form of an airplane carpet hanging over the city.

The formation of a cloud with sharp edges was first noticed on Saturday afternoon, but the excitement arose when Laura Gilchrist, an employee of the Weather Bureau, tweeted about it.

A tweet from Gilchrist, an employee of the Meteorological Bureau:

"A diamond-shaped cloud was seen over Exeter this evening."

But those who are looking for sensational or supernatural explanations will be disappointed.

A representative of the Weather Bureau assured residents that the cloud is just a strangely formed contrail - an artificial cloud formed by water vapor from an airplane jet engine when it moves in the air.

But inversion clouds usually appear as two thin bands diverging in the sky. But in this case, the combination of unusual atmospheric conditions transformed the emissions from the engine into a floating rectangle.

A Met Office spokeswoman said:

"In this case, the aircraft passed through an air pocket, where conditions arose for the formation of a rectangular inversion shape, it was a very brief moment."

"The wind was blowing at right angles to the contrail, and this led to the correct atmospheric conditions. The movement of the air caused the ice crystals in this path to spread outward, creating a rectangular-shaped cloud.

"It is unusual to see a cloud with such precise edges, as in this example, but the processes involved in the formation of the "magic carpet" are very common."