Submarine Missile Test Lights Up Sky Across the West

A mysterious streak of bright light that lit up the California sky Saturday night and reportedly was visible as far away as central Arizona came from a missile that was launched by a U.S. submarine off the Northern California coast, a Navy spokesman said Sunday.

The “fairly routine” offshore missile test lit up the sky for hundreds of miles because of atmospheric conditions, said Lt. Cmdr. Don Lewis, spokesman for the Navy Pacific Missile Test Center here.

The glare of a missile test firing at sea usually is not visible on land, Lewis said, but heavy clouds in some areas diffused the glow of the missile’s fiery trail.

“We’re assuming that’s what most people saw,” he said.

The missile was fired about 9 p.m. from a ballistic missile submarine “to verify its missile system’s effectiveness,” Lewis said.

The submarine was at the northern end of the Navy’s sea test range, in a stretch of water reaching about 300 miles offshore from San Francisco. The missile flew toward the southern end of the range, which extends about 300 miles offshore from San Diego, and presumably splashed into the ocean.