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Bright, blue-green ‘phenomenon’ lights up the sky, freaks residents out

A BRIGHT phenomenon has lit up the sky, and for once, it’s definitely not a UFO. So, what’s the explanation? WARNING: Graphic language.

Matt Young
less than 2 min read
November 9, 2015 - 7:20AM

COULD it be a comet shower? A nuclear bomb? Or have the aliens finally come to conquer Earth?

A bright phenomenon that lit up the sky over California on Saturday night had residents fearing the worst — including a few freaked out celebrities (we’re looking at you, Khloe Kardashian).

But what they didn’t realise was the light was in fact a secret test by the US Navy, who after causing so much strife in the area, revealed they had launched an unarmed test-fire missile.

Hours after its initial spotting, and after hours of speculation by meteorologists, astronomers and military officials, a US Navy spokesman told the San Diego Union-Tribune the luminous object was in fact an unarmed Trident missile that was fired at sea from off the coast of southern California.

Cmdr. Ryan Perry, of the Navy’s Third Fleet, said the Trident II (D5), described as a “blue-green flash that flew horizontally”, was launched by an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, The Kentucky, in the Pacific Test Range off the coast of southern California, the Union-Tribune reported.

The Navy uses the area to test missiles in a “massive” area northwest of Los Angeles.

“Each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities,” Perry said in a statement released to the newspaper.

This is it: A Trident II (D-5) missile underwater launch. Picture: US Department of Defense
This is it: A Trident II (D-5) missile underwater launch. Picture: US Department of Defense

Perry revealed missile launches are “not routinely” announced because “information regarding the test launch of such missiles is classified prior to the launch”.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported “law agencies and news media in San Diego were flooded with calls about 6pm from people reporting everything from a flare to a comet to a nuclear bomb in the western sky.”

Flights to and from Los Angeles airport have been diverted over the Pacific Ocean this week as the US military began conducting secret tests just west of the busy airport’s airspace.

As a result the airport has been forced to change its method of traffic flying in and out of the second-busiest airport in the United States.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/bright-bluegreen-phenomenon-lights-up-the-sky-freaks-residents-out/news-story/cac8f9a728c6efb51b47827d33d9051b