Nasa: Strange light in evening sky was not a UFO

Morning Call-- Walt Rupnik sat in the backyard of his Breinigsville home on Saturday evening with his wife Diane, enjoying one of the final days of the summer season.

In a flash, things got pretty weird in the early evening sky.

''I was sitting out there grilling chicken and all of a sudden I saw a bright slice of light and then we watched as a triangular shape came out of it,'' the 55-year-old Rupnik said. ''It was the strangest thing we ever saw. The light beamed down out of the sky for 30 to 45 seconds then it went back into the slice and then it was gone. It didn't fly off, it just disappeared.''

Rupnik was among numerous startled Lehigh Valley residents who telephoned or e-mailed news outlets, reporting a similar sighting of a strange light coming from the southern sky.

So what was it? What was this strange beam of light lasting nearly a minute on a picture-perfect weather evening?

NASA officials have the answer.

The lights were caused by the launching of a rocket in Wallops Island, Va., as part of a cloud experiment, officials said.

The space agency said it launched the Black Brant XII around 7:45 p.m. Saturday to gather data on the highest clouds in the Earth's atmosphere.

A number of people along the East Coast -- from as far away as Boston, 380 miles from Wallops Island -- reported seeing the cone-shaped light.

NASA hopes the experiment will provide information on the formation and properties of noctilucent clouds, which occur at high altitudes.

As for Rupnik, he said the lights in the sky were something he can't forget.

''It was like something that you see out of the movies,'' He said.

[via Paranormal Daily News]