Early Saturday evening, hundreds of people in Southern California looked up at the sky and saw a strange, glowing light.
My photo of a bright fireball seen from Pasadena tonight. Note the blue tail. @myfoxla @plutokiller @BadAstronomer
The light moved through sky, but at least at first no one seemed to know what it was. Plenty of people speculated that it was a UFO.
I think I just saw a UFO
@LAScanner vid from Visalia dogs are barking.
Videos of the object showed it emitting some sort of gas or mist at one point.
Some people wanted to investigate, while others were frightened.
Griffith Observatory reportedly was overwhelmed with calls.
BREAKING: Griffith Observatory experiencing high call volume due to "light in the sky".
People reported seeing it from as far away as Las Vegas:
@LAScanner View from Vegas
There were also reports of people seeing the light in Arizona and Utah.
But it turns out the light was a just a Navy missile that was test fired off California's coast, officials tweeted:
#OCSDPIO: Light seen in OC sky was confirmed through JWA tower to be a Naval test fire off the coast. No further details.
Navy Cmdr. Ryan Perry told the San Diego Union-Tribune the object was a Trident II (D5) missile, which was fired from a submarine off the California coast. The Navy said such launches happen frequently.
Perry also said the missile was not armed, and information about tests is classified prior to launching.
Coast Guard and Navy officials did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.