Pink mystery cloud not a UFO after all

Shortly after sunset along the Jersey shore Wednesday night many thought something other worldly was happening before their very eyes. A strange, glowing, pink cloud had formed and hovered for a good while. Was it the famous Orson Wells saga only real this time?

Not at all.

Our explanation begins in Virginia. There, at something called the Wallops Flight Facility, a Department of Defense mission was underway. A NASA rocket was launched to study ionization in space just outside of our planet’s atmosphere. A NASA press release explained, “After flying to an altitude of several hundred miles and about 500 miles off-shore, the rocket’s payload released a small quantity of vapor into the near-vacuum of space.”

A trail of condensation was formed by gas vapors and the remnants of light from the setting sun caused the cool pink glow.

Well, Twitter went bonkers.

Some say the pictures didn’t do the celestial event justice and that the glow in real life was much brighter and eerier than shown. After the pandemic, why not an alien invasion to keep things interesting, right?

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.