Mystery as 'huge' burning object tears through the skies of Cambridgeshire for 20 minutes before hitting the ground (4 Pics)

A burning object was spotted spiralling through the night's sky for up to 20 minutes before it hit the ground.

Gerry Underwood, 55, who lives on a canal boat in Stretham, Cambridgeshire, saw the object at around 8pm on Wednesday.

He and partner Melanie had been 'having a little fire outside' when he noticed the trail across the sky and decided to photograph it. 

Gerry Underwood, 55, who lives on a canal boat in Stretham, Cambridgeshire, saw the object spiralling through the sky at around 8pm on Wednesday

Gerry said it took 'between 10 and 20 minutes' for the unidentified object to fall to the ground as it left a huge trail in its wake. Eventually the burning mass disappeared behind the trees in the distance

He said: 'It looked like a very thick chemtrail to start with. It looked like a short, skinny cloud.

'It wasn't moving quickly at all. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a meteorite because they are gone in seconds.

'We have seen hundreds of shooting stars but this definitely wasn't that either.

'This was coming down very slowly and spiralling. It started to glow orange as you can see in the pictures.

'There were flames coming out of the back of it as well. It was really unusual.'

The unidentified object left a huge trail in its path and took 'between 10 and 20 minutes' to fall to the ground. 

The unidentified object left a huge trail in its path and took 'between 10 and 20 minutes' to fall to the ground.

At the time the image appeared in the sky, a Qatar cargo aircraft had flown over the area at 34,000 feet on its journey between Frankfurt, Germany and Atlanta, Georgia 

Eventually the burning mass disappeared behind a line of trees in the distance.

Gerry said: 'The sheer size of it is what's got me. When you look at the pictures, they show the trees in the foreground and it's way beyond that, it was very big. 

'It landed beyond the horizon, that's how big it was - we couldn't see it land. 

'We see a lot of strange things down the river but that's the first time we've ever seen something like that.'

However, Robert Massey, Deputy Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society said the photograph was most likely a contrail from a high-flying jet. 

'If this was a meteorite, it would be far more dramatic and would disappear within a few seconds. 

'What we have here is most likely a jet flying towards the setting sun. The sun has dramatically illuminated the aircraft's contrail. As the contrail breaks up it is moved around by high level winds making it look like it was spiralling to the ground. 

'It looks very impressive because it appears very dramatic in the darkening sky.' 

At the time the photographs were taken, a Qatar cargo jet flying between Frankfurt and Atlanta, Georgia was passing at 34,000 feet.