A STRANGE light spotted in the sky over Stourbridge turned out to be neither a bird, nor a plane, or even a UFO, but a space rocket launched by NASA in California.

Michael Morgan from Heath Street was among those who captured the bizarre sight in the sky on camera last night.

He noticed the spectacle outside his home in Stourbridge's Old Quarter at 10.13pm after a late night drive out in search of diesel and was so taken aback by the bright and unusual light that he stopped a passerby to ask what it was.

Neither of them could explain what it was but after posting about the experience on social media, he realised it was in fact a US space rocket.

Mr Morgan was not the only one to spot the Atlas V rocket carrying the Landsat 9 satellite onboard after its launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Monday September 27.

The rocket carrying a satellite to document the human and natural impacts on Earth's was glimpsed by stargazers and amateur snappers up and down the country but it was the first time 29-year-old airline cabin crew member Mr Morgan had seen anything out of the ordinary in the skies before.

He said: "I'd just got out of my van and it caught my eye because it was so unusual and it was such a clear night and there was no sound, it was just moving quietly in the sky and it disappeared into the horizon. I've seen plenty of shooting stars but I've never seen anything like that. It was quite interesting to watch."

Education charity UK Astronomy said of the spectacle: "The strange object seen in the sky is the deorbit burn of the centaur rocket's upper stage, lots of people getting great pics of it."