Mysterious gold lights streak across Southern California night sky. What do we know?

In the wee hours of April 2, the night sky in Southern California lit up. Bright gold lights streaked across the black, like luminescent paint.

“It was visible to us for a good 30 seconds, then disappeared from our line of sight,” Jarred Gonzalez told NBC Los Angeles.

“Today I witnessed my very first comet,” @Robsxljr2 wrote under a TikTok video of the lights.

Though, these lights weren’t necessarily comets. Soon, social media was flooded with videos like these speculating and asking what on earth these streaks were. Debris? Aliens?

“What is this flying over Los Angeles?” another Tik Toker @nonzerobit asked on their video of the lights from a different angle.

“I’m not a scientist,” @callmepronto wrote under their video of the Los Angeles night sky. “Someone please explain.”

According to NBC Los Angeles, Space X launched their Falcon 9 rocket on the evening of April 1, only hours before the sighting of the mysterious lights. At dusk before the late-night surprise, the rocket launch illuminated the surrounding sky 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles, as expected. While these two light shows could be connected, experts have yet to confirm it.

This story was originally published April 2, 2024 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Mysterious gold lights streak across Southern California night sky. What do we know?."