Not the Northern Lights? Alaska witnessed a different freaky light phenomenon over the weekend.
Of course theories about aliens and secret government projects came up almost immediately. But, as it turns out, the light spiral was caused by a potential fuel dump in the SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday night with a payload of around 25 satellites headed for space.
Don Hampton, space physicist and research associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, said, “When they do that at high altitudes, that fuel turns into ice. And if it happens to be in the sunlight, when you’re in the darkness on the ground, you can see it as a sort of big cloud, and sometimes it’s swirly.”
So, it looks like there’s no need to worry about an alien invasion just yet.