Readers from as far afield as Canada have contacted us this week after they spotted the same orange light which was sighted over the skies of Saltcoats on Tuesday, December 23.

One amateur astronomer from Inverness believes he saw the same light on the same night and can't find any reasonable explanation. Andy Ferguson explained: "My wife was visiting her family in Kilwinning and her dad had given her the Herald. When I read the story about the UFO sighting I was surprised as I also saw the orange light in the sky over Inverness.

"Like your reader said, it was a bright orange light, which in my case travelled slowly northwards before disappearing. It was around midnight when I saw it and, from my viewpoint, crossed about 45 degrees of sky before disappearing.

"As I am an amateur astronomer I am normally somewhat circumspect about UFO sightings but on this occasion I can find no logical explanation. It was not a flare as there was no evidence of smoke trails. I have also ruled out fireworks because of the long persistence of the object and it was not a fireball because of its altitude. I am still a cynic but it is rather strange that two unexplained orange lights should be spotted on the same night but almost 200 miles, and four or five hours, a part.

One reader from St Helens in Merseyside also believes he saw the same light but on Boxing Day. The 44-year-old told the Herald: My family and I were on-route to my sister-in-laws when a reddish/orange orb suddenly appeared. It started to pulsate from red to orange to violet and then to white.

"It was in the west and was about as bright as Venus when it was in white. We stood there in amazement for about three minutes and watched it get higher and higher before it dimmed and suddenly blinked out.

"I have seen many UFO sightings in my life so I am sure this is what I saw and it definitely sounds like the same thing your reader spotted on December 23."

And news of the UFO sighting has travelled as far as Canada, as a UFO researcher from Vancouver contacted us this week with his thoughts. "I have noticed that there have been two reports on Tuesday, December 23 from the UK that seem to describe similar crafts," Harold Berndt explained.

"The other location was in Dumfries and sounds like it was the same orange balls either glowing or on fire. However, it doesn't stop there. The same phenomenon, the same craft was seen on different continents on the other side of the planet, and they were all within minutes of each other.

"I am a member of Dr Steven Greer's Disclosure Project and I take part in field work and expeditions with Dr. Greer. We believe that these sightings are UFOs and we are continuing to look into all these reports."

But the most bizarre report we have had is from a couple who live in Manchester. They had been visiting relatives in West Kilbride when they saw the orange light and contacted the Herald to tell us their story.

Michael McKenna and Ruth Holt explained: "We were visiting my mum and dad in West Kilbride when we saw the light. It was between 12.30am and 12.50am when we saw the orange ball which was fiery with a ring of red light round it.

"It seemed to be aware of the fog bank that was there as it rose up from out of it and continued to follow it.

"However, that isn't the strange thing. The twist in the story is that when we went home to Manchester on January 3 we were told that the exact same object was spotted in Lancashire. And we hadn't told anyone about the light we saw. Once you have ruled out helicopters, planes and fireworks the only explanation is a UFO."