NYPD confirms it was a Con Edison transformer, not aliens, that lit up the New York sky and caused multiple blackouts

Some New Yorkers may have gotten a bit of a scare Thursday evening when they looked up and saw a bright blue light in the sky. The strange light caused speculation from Ghost Busters to extraterrestrials.

Some took to Twitter to find answers:

so anyone catch those creepy lights over Queens just now 👀👽pic.twitter.com/TPh8BL5QbZ

— Complex (@Complex) December 28, 2018

Blue smoke in Queens means a new Mets owner has been elected. pic.twitter.com/Ign059WCtH

— JB (@JB_August) December 28, 2018

Ultimately, they found that the cause of the light was due to a Con Edison transformer explosion and an electrical fire that gave off the bright blue glow. Still, the NYPD had to put to rest any concerns of alien invaders.

Confirming incident in #Astoria was result of transformer explosion. No injuries, no fire, no evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Please continue to follow @FDNY and @Conedison

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 28, 2018

The explosions sparked multiple outages across New York City and a few airports including Laguardia.

Transformers are directors of energy flowing through an electricity generation system. So damage that makes the transformer unable to regulate its temperature makes those transformers more vulnerable to exploding or catching fire.

While some Queens residents lost power temporarily, many were relieved that New York City was not getting attacked by aliens and the apocalypse was not coming.