In the latest UFO riddle to grip Australia, a reader has spotted what appears to be a flying saucer hovering directly above Millers Point while checking out Google Maps.

The bizarre discovery, near the Sydney Harbour Bridge, comes at the end of a year that was full of claims of such close encounters.

Careful study of the Google picture isn't quite as helpful, reports the Courier Mail.

Photograph experts have cautioned that it could be a distortion - but Google didn't deny it was an alien craft.

A spokesman joked: "The interplanetary internet project is clearly gaining momentum quicker than we thought!"

"Of course, as with human-owned vehicles in Google street view, the licence plates on this UFO are not identifiable," he added. (ANI)