ASTRONOMERS and police say a full-scale alien invasion of the Northern Territory has begun.

They say the flares seen across a 360km-long stretch of the Top End coast were probably caused by a meteor shower.

But highly-qualified UFO-ologists said they believed the bright lights were space ships on a pre-attack scouting mission.

Darwin-based UFO expert Alan Ferguson said the flares were obviously aliens. "This all sounds like UFO activity," he said.



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"Meteors usually just flash across the sky and leave a tail.

"But UFOs will stay in the same spot and wobble up and down and side to side. Fast movements.

"That's how they work."

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Mr Ferguson said UFOs, like Swedish backpackers and Canberra politicians, nearly always came to the Top End during the dry season.

"It may be just that there are less clouds and we can see better," he said. "Or it maybe that we're outside more during the Dry.

"Or maybe the UFOs are interested in our military activity. There are always more of them about during (Operation) Pitch Black."

Superintendent Bruce Porter said police received many calls about the flares at about 9pm on Tuesday.

Police feared a boat was in distress and launched a search. "We took this seriously, but the indications are that nobody is missing," they said.

Just last month the NT News reported on how one Territory town's invasion by UFOs had been recorded in the world's most famous museum for extraterrestrial life.

The tiny community of Marlinja came to a standstill in June 2008 when UFOs reportedly descended on the town. Now the event has been recorded at the International UFO Museum in Roswell.

Roswell in New Mexico is home to arguably the most famous UFO incident of all time.

On July 8, 1947, it was reported that US Army personnel had recovered a crashed flying disc from a ranch near Roswell.

Supt Porter believes the flares were probably a meteor shower.

For those who don't believe the NT is being invaded by Martians, meteors are pieces of debris that burn up when entering the earth's atmosphere. If they hit the ground, they become meteorites.