Photo: Julien Solomita

Last night, right about sunset, the western sky over Southern California was filled by a weird blue-green light streaking across the heavens. Visible as far as Arizona, the mysterious light didn’t look like a meteor.  For a time, it was literally an Unidentified Flying Object, a UFO. The Twitter-sphere was filled with speculation about alien invasion, the Death Star, and doom, among other topics. Soon, however, it was identified as a being the launch of an unarmed Trident II (D5) missile fired from the USS Kentucky, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine that sits off the coast of Southern California in the Pacific Test Range.  There is a video of the missile launch after the page break.

As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The test was part of a scheduled, on-going system evaluation test, said Cmdr. Ryan Perry with the Navy’s Third Fleet.

Perry said launches are conducted on a frequent, recurring basis to ensure the continued reliability of the system. “Each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities,” he said in a statement.

The missile was not armed and Strategic Systems Programs does not routinely announce missile testing. Information regarding the test launch of such missiles is classified prior to the launch, Perry said.

The test range is a massive area northwest of Los Angeles. The Navy periodically uses the range to test fire Tomahawk and Standard cruise from surface ships and submarines.

Law agencies and news media in San Diego were flooded with calls about 6 p.m. from people reporting everything from a flare to a comet to a nuclear bomb in the western sky.

MASSIVE BLUE UFO OVER LOS ANGELES 11-7-15 [HD]