A strange object flying close to the sun looks unnervingly like a huge, metallic 'mothership' familiar from Hollywood blockbusters.

The picture was released by Nasa's sun-watching Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, known as SOHO - and has become an immediate cult hit on the internet.

UFO fan site Gather News said: ‘An unusually shaped, gigantic UFO was spotted on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and posted in a video on YouTube.

The unidentified flying object, which bears no resemblance to anything ever spotted near the Sun, somehow manages to withstand the blazing heat thrown off by solar flare activity and the incredibly high temperatures emanating from nuclear fusion generated on the surface of the star. What is it?' asked the site.

UFO fans on YouTube have been highly enthusiastic about the object, with many claiming it as a definite 'spot'.

SOHO, the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory, is a satellite built to study the Sun from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind.

SOHO was launched on December 2, 1995.

The twelve instruments on board SOHO communicate with large radio dishes around the world which form NASA's Deep Space Network are used for data downlink and commanding.

‘The video shows what looks like a metallic, jointed spaceship with a gigantic extension, perhaps a boom arm, anchored off its lower end.

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Source / Pics