The woman, who has asked not to be named for fear of ridicule, lives in the Selden area of Worthing near the seafront.

She was standing in her garden at around 5pm last Monday when she saw "something really very strange".

She said: "I'm certainly no fruitcake, nor a UFO spotter, and prior to this I had no interest whatsoever in UFO phenomena.

"I am a mature, rational, reasonably intelligent woman, with a professional background, and I must say I would probably not have believed it, had I had not seen it myself.

"I was chatting to a friend on my mobile phone and just casually watching the birds and the planes up above when I spotted something really very strange, much higher up than any planes.

Orange orb

"It was a clear bright orb, orange in colour.

"I watched it for a few minutes, trying to work out what on earth it was.

"It was very odd, and moving in a very unusual manner. At first, I could hardly believe what I was seeing, and thought I must be seeing things or going crazy.

"So I called a nearby neighbour to come over and look, and he and I both watched this thing for at least five minutes. He said he'd 'never seen anything like it'.. and the odd expletive."

"We were both transfixed. I suggested we report it, but he said 'people will just think we're crazy', even though we'd both seen it clearly.

Rational explanation

"We both tried to come up with every possible rational explanation to explain it, but neither of us could find one to explain this object."

The sightings bear startling similarity to reports of orange lights over Hastings on the same evening.

Click here to read more about the Hastings UFO.

A UFO has also been spotted in Crawley. Click here to read more.

Five per cent of British UFO sightings reported each year are unexplained.

Did you see the lights? Can you offer an explanation? Email: chris.taylor@worthingherald.co.uk or leave your comments below.

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