Town baffled after looking up to see nine pillars of light in night sky

Residents in a Japanese town were left wondering if they were at the forefront of an alien invasion after spotting nine eerie pillars of light in the night sky.

Every unexplained flash of light in the sky, wayward glow lantern or runaway balloon has been accused of being an extra terrestrial at some point.

Beyond the alien mass-hysteria, according to the US government, there are no credible occurrences of UFO's - recently rebranded to UAP's (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon).

However, residents of Tottori Prefecture in southern Japan might be left wondering if that's entirely true after a nine mysterious pillars of light were captured floating in the sky on 11 May.

Like anyone confronted with such a strange occurrence in the sky, residents swiftly snapped photos of the pillars and uploaded them to social media to seek an explanation.

The pillars of light were spotted above the Tottori Prefecture in southern Japan (X / @maashii_taiy)

The lights were originally shared on X by user Maashii, who wrote: "Around 22:00 today, I discovered a streak of light above Mikaya Port in Daisen Town, Tottori."

"When I looked up at the night sky in front of my house, I saw several streaks of light in the sky," he also told Japanese news site Hint-Pot.

The lights appeared to be floating to the north of the town above the Sea of Japan, with the tweet viewed over 12.1 million times and capturing the attention of X users across the world.

Unsurprisingly, the strange lights led some to speculate that they 'might be abducted by aliens' or if it's 'one big UFO'.

Meanwhile, some also shared their own pictures of the lights.

However, the lights actually have a completely reasonable explanation - and it's not little green men in spaceships.

The lights appeared to float over the Sea of Japan (X / @totoro8201)

The beams in the sky are actually above a patch of the sea popular with fishing boats, meaning that the lights are actually reflections of the boats in the harbour at the point.

This isn't the first time the lights have been spotted either, with fellow Daisen resident Marcy telling Hint-Pot that she'd witnessed the floating lights a handful of times since moving to the town nine years ago.

The phenomenon is known as 'Isaribi Kochu' or 'fish-attracting light pillars'.

The lights don't often appear, however, sometimes happening once a year, according to Japan Today in 2015.

In order to coax nocturnal fish to their boats, fishermen use lights in order to attract them.

However, according to the publication, when the overnight temperatures drops low enough, ice crystals can form in the air above ships, and given the right conditions, they are bright enough to reflect into the sky and can be seen from shore.

So not aliens, but still pretty cool right?