Another anomaly in the skies above the United States had people taking to social media in search of answers on Friday, this time asking for some explanation for the spectacular light show in the skies over Southern California.  After the recent revelation that the Pentagon has been investigating military UFO reports, one might not blame them for assuming the explanation for Friday night’s lights was “out of this world;” the thing is, they weren’t from outer space… they were headed there.

The light show was actually caused by SpaceX’s final launch of the year, a Falcon 9 carrying 10 Iridium Next communications satellites into orbit.  The launch itself took place at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Los Angeles just about 30 minutes after sunset.

The real show began, however, a bit after launch, when the rocket’s first stage separated from its second, producing a dramatic light show that you could be forgiven for thinking must be an alien creation.  In fact, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk himself took to Twitter to poke a bit of fun at the social media response to the launch.

 

Although Musk may have been being a bit snarky in his tweet, a number of California residents, including famous professional skater, Tony Hawk, celebrity space cadet Jaden Smith, and Grammy award-winning musician Will.I.Am all posted pictures and videos on Twitter and Instagram asking if anyone knew what they were looking at.