A mysterious light lit up the sky in Northern California, leaving residents baffled and amazed. Does it have anything to do with the canceled rocket launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base, or is it something different altogether?
Mysterious Light
A mysterious light caused a bit of buzz among residents of Northern California this past Wednesday after the smoke-like light lit up the darkening sky for several minutes. Naturally, many were quick to share the footage they got of the phenomenon from where they were when it happened. One even described it as a streak of light that left the light trail.
Interestingly, there were rocket launches scheduled for that day at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, but they were canceled due to a glitch. So what really caused the mysterious sighting?
From Bay Point, CA pic.twitter.com/wXvMidUS75 — Abey Fromaney (@27suns) December 20, 2018
Morro Bay, CA pic.twitter.com/5gcwrgM84H — JoyBells (@dannajoy) December 20, 2018
Meteor
Neither the Vandenberg Air Force Base nor the Travis Air Force Base had any information on what the mysterious light might be, but the National Weather Service Bay Area believes that it might be a meteor that resulted in a noctilucent cloud (NLC).
In a tweet, the agency noted that evidence is so far showing that the object might have been a meteor or some other space debris entering the atmosphere, although it is still not a hundred percent certain.
Noctilucent Clouds
NLCs are actually a mystery that dates back to the 19th century. In fact, the phenomenon was first observed in 1885 by sky watchers, about two years after the eruption of Krakatoa. Back then, it was believed that the smoke was some sort of manifestation of volcanic dust, but it is now believed to be more from space than from below the surface. Specifically, it is now known that at least 3 percent of each ice crystal in an NLC is meteoritic in origin.
That said, it remains to be a mystery why such clouds are brightening, and why they seem to be spreading since they were first observed.
