Viral: This man spotted a ‘UFO’ in Delhi. It turned out to be…

A Twitter user shared a picture of a "UFO" in Delhi which turned out to be something quite commonplace (Image credit: @NeecheSeTopper/Twitter)

One man was left speechless after catching a glimpse of a flying saucer in Delhi – until he realised it wasn’t a UFO at all, but an optical illusion caused by air pollution in the national capital. A picture of the object, captured and shared on Twitter, has similarly amazed thousands of viewers – but only until they look more carefully and realise it’s not an unidentified flying object or an alien spacecraft.

The picture was shared on social media by a Twitter user who received it from a friend. The Twitter user shared a screenshot of his text exchange with the friend, who explained that what looks like a flying saucer at first glance is actually a water tower.

While the top of the water tower is visible through the haze that has enveloped Delhi, the base structure becomes almost invisible, giving the illusion of a UFO hovering in the sky. The end result is such that many would do a double take after looking at the picture. See for yourself:

text from a friend in delhi pic.twitter.com/UteRaiMIOi

— Neeche Se Topper (@NeecheSeTopper) November 7, 2022

In the comments section, some questioned the authenticity of the picture, calling it photoshopped. Others blamed the toxic air of Delhi, which has improved marginally over the last two days after plunging to ‘severe’ earlier this month.

The capital's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) worsened from 339 on Sunday to 354 on Monday. It was 381 on Saturday.

The GRAP classifies the air quality in Delhi-NCR under four different stages: Stage 1 - 'poor' (AQI 201-300); stage 2 - 'very poor' (AQI 301-400); stage 3 - 'severe' (AQI 401-450); and stage 4 - 'severe plus' (AQI >450).

(With inputs from PTI)