15 January 2016
Some internet users have commented that the figure looks like the robot from the animated movie The Iron Giant. Flyer Nick O'Donoghue, 30, a software support team manager from Ireland, was on board an EasyJet flight from Austria to Cork when he noticed the bizarre figure in the sky and grabbed his camera.
He said: 'I was flying back from a work ski trip in Austria, I was on the window seat with two work colleges beside me. 'They were talking like crazy and I was gazing out the window, as you do. I could see this figure in the distance in front of us and then as we flew closer this shape appeared.
'I asked the ladies beside me to look at it too in case I was seeing things. They too were amazed! I then took some pictures and then the aircraft slowly passed it. To me it looked like the Michelin man but to be honest I have no idea what it was.
'Some comments online said it was smoke stacks below and the heat from them pushed up the layer of clouds, but I don't think so as they looked very close together. Probably just a funky cloud formation but I'd love for someone who knows about clouds to see it and try and explain.'
In October thousands of people in China claimed they had seen a 'floating city' in the sky. Residents of Jiangxi and Foshan were stunned when they saw what they thought to be towering sky scrapers appearing from the clouds.
While many believed they had seen parallel universes, weather experts say the phenomenon was down to an optical illusion known as a Fata Morgana.
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