Thousands See Bright, Blue “UFO” Over Southern California

As usual, there’s actually a pretty earthly explanation.

There is no better example of the way social media exploded with reports of a brilliant unidentified flying object soaring through the Southern California skies Saturday night than this tweet from one of the Kardashian sisters.

The light was visible from San Diego to Los Angeles. It’s true, it was a pretty strange sight, based on the many videos and photos rapidly published across Instagram and Twitter: a burning blue-green light unlike any normal aircraft seen in any region. The San Diego Union-Tribune had to go and pour cold water on all the wild speculation that our alien overlords had finally come to save us from ourselves. It was a dummy missile, sent from the U.S. Navy:

Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducted the scheduled Trident II (D5) missile test flight at sea from the Kentucky, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, in the Pacific Test Range off the coast of Southern California, a Navy spokesman said.  

Other explanations from various official sources had said the object might be related to the Taurids meteor shower, but in the end the Navy was clear it was part of their normal operations in the area.

We’re glad for rational explanations, but they’re not nearly as much fun as imagining ET decided to do a close-up fly-by. We hope the person who tells Khloé Kardashian the truth lets her down gently.

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