The mysterious light in the sky over the Bay Area. Photo: Robert Abiad

Update: 7:49 p.m. The Lick Observatory is saying a meteor caused the light. Writing on Facebook, the University of California-owned observatory, said a “bright meteor was visible in the skies over the Bay Area shortly after sunset this evening, leaving a bright trail that was visible for many minutes in the western sky. “

Original story: A mysterious light in the sky that popped up over the Bay Area around 5:30 p.m. has people wondering whether it is the trail from a rocket launch, a meteor entering the earth’s atmosphere, space debris, a strange cloud formation, or the reentry of a Russian rocket. Some even jokingly said it was Santa on his sleigh.

Berkeleyside has reached out to NASA for information, but so far no one is responding to inquiries.

One thing it is not is a Delta IV rocket that was scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:44 p.m. The launch was delayed because of a hydrogen leak, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

The Russian Soyuz spacecraft was too far away to account for the light. It was scheduled to undock from the International Space Station at 5:42 p.m. and take three and a half hours to reach the earth’s atmosphere, according to Nasa.

Video below by David Jacobowitz:

YouTube video

The light was both beautiful and mysterious, hovering horizontally across the sky. It looked as if the sun were peeping through clouds, although the sun had already set. The light was seen as far northwest as Reno, Nevada and as far south as Vandenberg.

People had many reactions to the light. Many thought the light was caused by a meteor. When one explodes in the earth’s atmosphere it is called a bolide. But no official has confirmed that.

The National Weather Service in Hanford has suggested it is a noctilucent cloud, which, according to Wikipedia, “are tenuous cloud-like phenomena in the upper atmosphere of Earth. They consist of ice crystals and are only visible during astronomical twilight.”

Here is a NASA video about them.

Here is an excellent video of the light:

YouTube video

https://twitter.com/Richifornia/status/1075569646030381056

One person is trying to crowdsource the light’s origin. He is asking people to “triangulate” its origins by filling in this survey about where it was spotted.

Berkeleyside updated this story as we got more information.

Frances Dinkelspiel, Berkeleyside and CItyside co-founder, is a journalist and author. Her first book, Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California, published in November...