People living in Lowestoft had an unusual surprise last night if they happened to look up into the sky.

Various locals across different parts of the town reported seeing a strange light slowly beaming across the sky.

Andrew Goffin, saw the light from Winnipeg Road in north Lowestoft and Emma Crowe saw it from her house in Carlton Colville both at around 10.30pm.

Lowestoft Journal: The strange light seen from Carlton Colville.The strange light seen from Carlton Colville. (Image: Emma Crowe)

The light was reportedly seen across other areas of Suffolk and Norfolk including in Acle and Costessey.

Some believe they may have seen a UFO but the likely explanation for the sighting is NASA's new satellite launch Landsat-9.

Lowestoft Journal: The strange light seen in the distance in Oulton Broad.The strange light seen in the distance in Oulton Broad. (Image: Mina Gourlay)

Landsat-9 is an Earth observing satellite and was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11.12 local time and 19.12 BST in California.

The strange light seen above Lowestoft would have been the satellite launching towards space a few hours after take off.

Landsat-9 will continue a 50-year tradition of monitoring the Earth from space.

It will allow scientists to identify environmental and climatic changes happening on Earth in real time.