Is That An Enormous UFO Landing On Italy’s Mount Etna?

The images on this page do give the feeling that our outer space neighbors have come to visit us, and landed on Mount Etna. However the saucer shaped object, which looks uncannily like a UFO, was created in our planet's atmosphere itself, so you don't have to run for cover screaming the aliens have landed! Called lenticular clouds, the flying saucer lookalikes form in the atmosphere's lowest levels due to stable humid air blowing over a mountain range and dropping on the other side.

Lenticular clouds are created in situations of high pressure when powerful winds prevail in the atmosphere. Moist laden air flows over the mountain, and then cools down and condenses to create the UFO like shape. In the most ideal instance, the mountain acts like the catalyst for creating waves in the air, which rises and sinks in a cyclic pattern. A lenticular cloud forms in the areas where the air rises up, and the area where the air sinks down will remain clear. The process can create a series of lenticular clouds that continues beyond the mountain.

"Lenticular clouds typically form over mountains, where moist, stable air is forced to rise up the mountain side. As it crosses the mountain, the air begins to oscillate like a wave, up and down," said Erin Wenckstern, meteorologist from Weather Network. "Within the ups (or crests), the air cools enough to condense and forms a cloud. This process can occur multiple times, causing this layered, lens effect that remains fairly stationary".

Sometimes, lenticular clouds can also form one on top of the other, quite similar to stacked pancakes. Stacked series of lenticular clouds usually occur when there are layers of moist and dry air flowing over the mountain. The UFO like object that can be seen over Mount Etna in the photos belongs to the stacked pancake kind of lenticular clouds, and since these types of clouds mostly form over mountainous regions, they are not seen by most people and therefore on being spotted are mistaken to be rare formations or even flying saucers. Incidentally, pilots usually avoid flying aircrafts near such clouds because they can lead to severe turbulence.