Strange blue spiral in the northern lights in the sky over Alaska

Aurora lovers were in for a surprise, mixed with the usual green light in the Alaskan sky, with a galaxy-like blue spiral appearing for a few minutes.

The reason for this phenomenon, which happened early on Saturday morning, was more common than a possible extraterrestrial invasion or the appearance of a portal to another place in the universe.

The light was simply the result of excess propellant fired from a SpaceX rocket launched from California about three hours before the spiral appeared, according to the Associated Press (AP).

“Sometimes rockets have fuel that needs to be disposed of,” explained space physicist Don Hampton, a professor and researcher at the Fairbanks Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska.

“When they do it at high altitudes, that fuel turns into ice. And if you happen to be in the sun when you are in the dark on earth, you can see it as a big cloud and sometimes as a whirlpool. “, he added.

While not common, Hampton said he has seen such incidents about three times.

The appearance of this spiral was captured by the camera of the Geophysical Institute and widely distributed.

“This spiral caused an uproar on the Internet,” Hampton said.

Photographers who captured the famous northern lights have also posted their photos of the light blue spiral on social media.

The rocket, which launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday evening, carried about 25 satellites.

“The timing was perfect, at that moment they made some kind of fuel dump, and we got a spectacular spiral,” he emphasized.

Although it looked like a galaxy flying over Alaska, the expert says it’s not.

“I can tell that this is not a galaxy. It’s just water vapor reflecting sunlight,” he concluded.