It was as if the film Independence Day had come to Moscow.
Last week Muscovites were stunned to see a luminous, halo-shaped cloud hovering above their city.
There was speculation of a supernatural occurrence, with one UK newspaper quoting a UFO expert who called the cloud a "true mystery".
But meteorologists rejected the theories of alien visitation, calling the ring of light an optical illusion.
A spokesman for the city's weather bureau said: "Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west, this is how the effect was produced."
He said the glowing cloud was "purely an optical effect," though admitted, "it does look impressive."
The weather bureau rejected claims from environmentalists that pollution was to blame.
The Daily Mail reported a Russian meteorologist saying the phenomenon has nothing to do with industrial emissions ...
"If something happens, there is a smog effect, but it appears only when the weather is quiet for a long time, " he was quoted as saying.
"The wind in Moscow has been quite strong recently."
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