An “otherworldly” pink glow lighting up the sky in Kent left people mystified this week, with some saying it looked like “the end of the world”.

In a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie, confused Thanet locals were left guessing what could have caused the strange illumination.

…

Sharing the images online, one resident joked: “Thought it was the end of the world, was looking for the four horsemen.”

Another added: “It’s just Zuul from Ghostbusters.”

Identical pink glowing lights have been reported across the country in recent weeks. East Yorkshire locals also took to social media to describe the mystery glow as a sign of extraterrestrial aliens and UFOs.

The reality of the light, however, has a much more reasonable explanation.

Thanet Earth, a large industrial factory located in Birchington, Thanet is responsible for the artificial pink light - which is used to grow 400 million tomatoes.

…

A spokesperson from Thanet Earth explained: “As a responsible local business, we constantly monitor the way our business effects the community around us and during certain weather conditions there will inevitably be some light that reflects, particularly when there is low dense cloud cover over the Thanet area.