Mystery light in California sky revealed as Navy missile test

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A mystifying light that illuminated part of the California sky on Saturday -- causing some confusion and panic -- was revealed to be a Navy missile test.

Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducted a test of an unarmed Trident II missile from an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, the USS Kentucky, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

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

"Each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities," Perry said in a statement, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The luminous incident led people in San Diego to begin calling law enforcement agencies and news organizations to report anything from flares and comets to nuclear bomb explosions. The light was visible from as far away as Nevada and Arizona.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department responded by saying that the light seen in Orange County was "confirmed through [John Wayne Airport] tower to be a Naval test fire off the coast."

Did anyone else see this in Hollywood/los Feliz/silverlake area?! First it looked like a helicopter/ plane on fire. It was yellow with blinking red lights.. Then it literally stopped in the sky, and exploded into a big white ring, not audibly, and then it turned into this before it literally just disappeared like smoke. Not a firework. It moved across the sky for 4-5 minutes before any of this happened.. #silverlakeufo

A video posted by Chris Marquette (@christophermarquette) on Nov 7, 2015 at 6:11pm PST