The clip, which was shared on Weibo, shows multiple suns lining up on a diagonal. The brightest of the ‘suns’ appears to be the real one, with the others fading in brightness as they move away from the center.

Sin Chew Daily reported that the unusual sighting only lasted about a minute, leaving the person filming in complete awe.

Those shared the breathtaking videos on social media said that the stunning phenomenon was a result of light refraction and scattering. It is said that the seven "suns" appeared in the sky in China on Monday, August 19.

Some netizens have attributed the phenomenon to a parhelion, also known as a sun dog, others have suggested that it might have been an optical illusion caused by light refracting through layered glass.

Dr Wang, vice president of the Sichuan Society for Amateur Astronomy, believes that the sighting could have been caused by light refracting through layered glass.

"Each layer of glass could produce additional illusory images, or even several, depending on the viewing angle," he explained.