INEXPLICABLE light formations have been seen above Suffolk leaving one couple baffled as to what was the cause of the mesmerising sight.The spectacle remained in the sky between Ipswich and Woodbridge for almost three hours before vanishing without a trace and Helen and Tim Peet have been left wondering if they were witness to an extra terrestrial, paranormal or natural phenomenon.

INEXPLICABLE light formations have been seen above Suffolk leaving one couple baffled as to what was the cause of the mesmerising sight.

The spectacle remained in the sky between Ipswich and Woodbridge for almost three hours before vanishing without a trace and Helen and Tim Peet have been left wondering if they were witness to an extra terrestrial, paranormal or natural phenomenon.

Mrs Peet, 38, had been to check on their nine-year-old and four-year-old sons at their home between the two towns just before midnight on December 27 before intending to go to bed herself.

However, she looked out of the window towards Playford and saw something that would keep her and her husband staring until the early hours of Friday morning.

"Directly over our garden I thought I could see the beginnings of a hurricane," she said. "The clouds were swirling outside over an area about the size of two football pitches.

"There was a very big central core of light and another circle beyond. The windier it got the more we could see the lights."

"It was huge over our garden," she continued, "and it would be there for three minutes then disappear and then come back.

"It was quite cloudy and windy and we were waiting for the clouds to clear to see what was behind them. But when the clouds cleared there was nothing there."

Mr and Mrs Peet have considered many options as to what caused the light show that kept them watching until about 3am but have been unable to find any definite or convincing explanation.

"When there are shows going on you often see lasers going into the sky, like in Christchurch Park," Mrs Peet said. "It was similar but it wasn't that. At 2.30am on a mid-week morning there's not going to be anything like that.

"I didn't feel that it was a natural phenomenon. With nature you expect things to jump about like the Northern Lights which wobble and bend.

"This had a definite shape to it. There were about 16 small circles forming a big circle and round the outside was a bigger circle. It was really strange."

"We've been going through encyclopaedias looking up information about magnetic storms but it's given us no explanation," she added.

"It possibly could have magnetic links but it was just such a definite structure."

One reason they believe it could have been something magnetic is due to an incident about three months ago. A plane was flying very low over their garden prompting Mrs Peet to complain to the police.

She received an official reply via letter telling her that the aircraft was from Scotland and had been carrying out magnetic reconnaissance.

"It makes you think why were they looking for that in this area and is it linked to what we saw?" she said.

Mrs Peet is aware that some people may think she and her husband are exaggerating or making the light formation up but they are convinced that what they saw was not normal.

She said: "We are straight forward, practical thinking people.

"My husband is so practical and down to earth so I asked him what he would say it was. He said it was very, very strange – either an extra terrestrial or paranormal happening. I thought for him to say that was a sign that I wasn't getting excited about nothing."