A mysterious bright light lit up the west coast sky on Friday night, causing wonder, awe and in some cases, confusion.
KGTV, our Scripps sister station in San Diego, California, said it received calls from "around San Diego county" from concerned viewers.
The bright lights were also seen in Phoenix, Arizona. According to sister station KNXV's Facebook page, many viewers suspected aliens, a nuclear attack, or maybe even a certain someone practicing for Christmas Eve.
It turns out the mysterious light was caused by a SpaceX rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The base is located in central California, meaning the light from the launch was clearly seen from nearly 500 miles away.
According to SpaceX, a reused rockety called Falcon 9 rocket will deliver 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit for Iridium, a communications company. Friday's launch was the fourth of ten.
It was the 18th and final launch for SpaceX in 2017.
Check out our viewer pictures/video in our gallery here.
These pictures from the #SpaceX launch are amazing! PHOTOS: https://t.co/SiU49kjV8p #abc15 pic.twitter.com/CAlkGtJ68j
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) December 23, 2017
