'Space junk' causes streak of green light above SoCal, Griffith Observatory says

LOS ANGELES -- A streak of bright green light appeared above Southern California on Tuesday. According to the Griffith Observatory, the flash of light was caused by "space junk," possibly something in orbit that was coming back down to Earth.

Astronomers said they spotted the debris with their telescopes at the Griffith Observatory. The Griffith Observatory said it was not uncommon for this to occur.

In December 2015, Russian space debris was spotted over Southern California and Nevada, taking social media by storm. Officials with the U.S. Strategic Command later stated a Russian SL-4 rocket body had reentered the atmosphere.

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In November 2015, a missile test flight from a submarine left hundreds of people from Southern California, Nevada and Arizona perplexed as it caused a bright light to streak across the sky.

The Pentagon later released a statement explaining that the Navy Strategic Systems Programs had conducted a scheduled test of a Trident II (D5) missile from USS Kentucky, an Ohio class submarine.

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