A MYSTERIOUS object in the sky was captured by a Taunton resident and the question is, what is it?

Could it be a cosmic explosion? A UFO? It remains unclear what it is.

Bethany Ribton sent in these images and the video of the object in the sky above her home in Taunton. They were taken on Friday night (May 12).

In the video you can see the object is a rounded shape and it flashes quite frequently. It also produces smaller grey swirls around the outside of it.

Bethany Ribton said: "It was amazing, at around 10:30/11pm (on Friday) there was so much noise, so I looked out from our garden and could see army helicopters circling.

"I’ve not seen anything so bright before so I went upstairs and looked out of the window and grabbed my phone to see if I could zoom in and get a closer look and I could just see this bright star turn into a ball of grey swirls."

Astronomers from Southampton University have recently uncovered the largest cosmic explosion ever witnessed, and this could be what Bethany saw from her house.

The explosion is more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova and three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event, where a star falls into a supermassive black hole.

Somerset County Gazette: The object from further zoomed out.The object from further zoomed out. (Image: Bethany Ribton)

The astronomers, believe the explosion is a result of a vast cloud of gas, however such events are very rare and nothing on this scale has been witnessed before, the researchers say.

So has Bethany Ribton and her family witnessed the cosmic explosion or was it something else?

She added: "My partner, Simon and I watched as it changed and moved further away.

"I wasn’t sure what it was and then read about the cosmic explosion so I’m sure this is what we were looking at. Either that or a UFO?!"

What do you think, was it a sighting of the recently discovered cosmic explosion or was it something else?