COURIER READERS have been reassured that odd lights in the night sky are not signs of extra terrestrial life—but rather a natural phenomenon, not unlike a night-time rainbow.

Cliff Schooling, of Glenisla, contacted the paper to share his sighting of a “halo” circling the moon.

He saw a series of rings around the waxing crescent moon as he drove to his home in the Angus glen.

“The moon was surrounded by a large dark ring which then changed to a light ring,” he said.

Ken Kennedy, director of observations for Dundee Astronomical Society, explained the effect occurs under similar conditions to a rainbow.

He said, “This is to do with the refraction of light, but the light of the moon is not bright enough to create a spectrum type of rainbow.”

It was most likely that droplets of ice in the atmosphere created Mr Schooling’s sighting, he added.