New Yorkers thought a UFO had landed, or some other space oddity, after a blue light lit up the night sky.
It turned out to be a transformer explosion in Queens, authorities reported Thursday.
“Magical. Terrifying blue light,” one person tweeted.
“ALIENS?!?! Not really. Lights over New York City are from an electrical transformer explosion, according to police. But lots of people thought it was aliens,” tweeted another breaking update.
I liked a @YouTube video https://t.co/sCJyeSodep Blue Explosions Light Up the New York Skyline Tonight!
— Jonathan Bystrom (@BystromJonathan) December 28, 2018
The New York City Police Department tweeted they are investigating a transformer explosion at a Con Edison power plant in Queens.
That fire, now said to be under control, set off the eerie blue hue that illuminated the night sky, sparking imaginations.
“Astoria” and “Queens,” where the blue light was the brightest, were the top terms trending on Twitter Thursday night as the power plant mishap “bathes NYC borough in bright blue light,” the social media site added.
A “couple of transformers tripped offline” at the intersection of 20th Avenue and 32nd Street in Astoria, Queens, Con Edison spokesman Bob McGee told CNN. That set off the fires with the electric-blue pulsing glow.
The FAA posted that LaGuardia Airport was temporarily closed for an “airport inspection.” No rockets, meteors, UFOs, flying saucers or visitors from distant galaxies taxied at the airport. All was soon clear.
“New York is freaking out over a pulsing ‘blue light’ in the sky and no, it’s not aliens,” another person on Twitter reassured her fellow New York City neighbors.
Some were drawing parallels to their favorite sci-fi hits — from “Independence Day,” the original one, to the Death Star in the “Star Wars” series.
No injuries — or earthling snatchings — were immediately reported . A few vaping while the sky glowed did get a bit carried away. Another wondered if the Ghostbusters were back in town.
In the end it was just a spectacular light show.
