It looks like a craft from another galaxy, but this is actually a huge cloud floating above China.
It was spotted over Xiamen city in Fujian province – and the photographer caught the moment an airliner was dramatically silhouetted against the sky close by.
The plane is completely dwarfed by the cloud, which is a type that normally forms when cool air passes over mountains.
Heavens above: A dramatic cloud resembling a UFO was spotted floating above China - with a plane silhouetted against the sky close by
Blue sky thinking: The cloud is known as an altocumulus lenticularis and normally forms when cool air passes over high ground
Up, up and away: The cloud was spotted over Xiamen city in Fujian province
Stacked plate formations in full effect: Altocumulus lenticularis clouds over the Isle of mull, Scotland
Met Office spokesperson Laura Young said: ‘This is an altocumulus lenticularis. Some people think they look like stacked plates.
‘They are normally formed over mountains. The air cools as it's forced over the mountains, condensation takes place and it forms these lens-shaped clouds - and they stack up on top of each other.
‘However, they can form at all levels and are often nicknamed as UFO clouds.'
The pictures emerged after Bristol was recently transformed into a scene resembling Independence Day by an astonishing cloud formation.
Photographer Alex Trott said that he 'couldn't believe his eyes' upon witnessing the sight of the eerie cloud formation in skies above Bristol
This still from the sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day shows an enormous spacecraft materialising from the clouds to herald the beginning of the film's intergalactic conflict
In one of the sci-fi film's best-known scenes, the alien spaceships appear for the first time by passing through the clouds - and the Bristol skyline looked remarkably similar on Tuesday evening, as the sun began to set behind a long line of clouds.
Alex Trott, 29, an urban designer who lives in Kingswood, Bristol, captured the amazing sight.
He said: 'My dog Betsy was barking like mad so I looked out the window and couldn’t believe my eyes.
'It was like a scene out of Independence Day.’
Source: DailyMail