Heidi Spencer and her partner spotted a cluster of bright lights from their flat in Abington while watching TV on Saturday night.

They stood up to investigate only to see one break off and scoot soundlessly across the sky and disappear.

Mrs Spencer said: "They were bright orange and moved quite steadily from the north west and went off to the south. We lost sight of them in the clouds. When I looked back the other one had gone.

"We managed to get a video of it on my phone but I was pretty freaked out all night."

Mrs Spencer was not the only one who spotted the unexplained lights above the town.

Elaine Byrne, of Park Avenue North, Abington and her 18-year-old daughter also saw some of the lights from their bathroom window at about midnight.

Did you spot the silent lights over Northampton on Saturday night? If so call UFO reporter Nick Spoors on Northampton 467033 or click here to send an email.

She said: "I saw a brilliant orange light in the sky. It was not far at all from us.

"I shouted to my daughter so she could witness it and we watched it before it went over us.

"I went to the other window to follow it then my daughter shouted to me that another one was there. It was strange."

Other readers as far away as Earls Barton also saw the lights on Saturday but no one has yet offered a feasible explanation.

However, worried Northamptonians may be comforted by the fact that the Ministry of Defence, which collects data on sightings, said no reports of a UFO had been recorded and deemed them no threat to national security.

A spokesman said: "The MoD examines reports solely to establish whether UK airspace may have been compromised by hostile or unauthorised military activity.

"Unless there is evidence of a potential threat, there is no attempt to identify the nature of each sighting reported."