A trident missile from a submarine sparked a wave of UFO sightings. Image Credit: US Navy
Hundreds of people took to social media to report a strange white light in the skies over California.
The unusual spectacle, which blazed and spiraled across the night sky, saw hundreds of onlookers gather outside their homes to capture footage and to post details of their sighting on the Internet.
While some witnesses suggested that the object was evidence of extraterrestrial visitation, it was later revealed that it was in fact an unarmed missile fired from a US Navy submarine.
According to a spokesman, the Navy Strategic Systems Program had launched the missile from the USS Kentucky on Saturday night as part of routine testing to ensure the reliability of their systems.
Footage of the missile, which was recorded by one of the witnesses, can be viewed below.
I don't know Leo. I learned some new things out of that PDF. That's not what I meant. It's full of new and interesting information; I was just addressing that one question by saying that people misidentified the real explanation by coming up with all kinds of wild guesses. I also mentioned what can be done about that. That's what I meant.
Jim's PDF has that interesting map showing all the directions that the various people reported seeing the thing. I have to agree that the most likely theory is that many people simply don't know their directions, even at their own home, or business/work. My house sits on a hill facing North East, and so we can see Mt St Helens off to the left, and Mt Hood off to the right, with Mt Adams being almost directly in front of the house. Yet everyone comes over thinking that they are looking directly North, which is actually like 45 degrees to the left. Any of these people reporting something seen fr... [More]
Hmmm, it clearly appears to be a missile nose cone but, due to the size - which implies closeness, it is going way to slow to be a missile. ??? Could you show us by posting an image with a circle over the part that you think is close and solid? You are aware that what you are seeing in most of these images is a spread-out plume of exhaust gases? And that something that is hundreds of kilometres away will appear to move very slowly, due to simple geometry? BTW, To Jim, that PDF file is great - should be required reading for any sky-/sat-watcher!
BTW, from that pdf from James Oberg, this video is worth a look so you can get a better feel for what this was (looks boring at the beginning but keep watching).. Seems some folks do carry reasonably good cameras - even if it wasn't on a tripod, still very good footage.
BTW, To Jim, that PDF file is great - should be required reading for any sky-/sat-watcher! Thanks, I've benefitted enormously by folks here explaining WHY they believe or disbelieve explanations, and what unspoken assumptions drive their choices. This allowed me to focus on better documenting the factual basis such deliberations must start from. I gotta admit, I hadn't given enough thought before to how really UNEARTHLY the space plumes and clouds were. They looked like plumes and clouds we're familiar with down here in air. And BOY! did that lead to 'logical' deductions about their behavior t... [More]
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