New York’s Mysterious Pulsing Blue Light Caused By Power Plant Fault

People in New York City were taken by surprise when a pulsing blue light appeared in the sky at night. It illuminated the city’s skyline and could be seen from miles away. Many took to social media to ask what had happened as the visuals were positively eerie. Turns out, the pulsing blue light was caused by an electrical fault at a power plant.

It was initially believed that the light was caused due to an explosion at the Con Edison power plant in Astoria, Queens. The company has since confirmed that there was no explosion. Calling the pulsing blue light a “sustained electrical arc,” Con Edison said that it was caused by an electrical fault. It also added that there were no injuries as a result of the fault.

Con Edison is investigating what caused the fault in the first place. An electrical arc is normally seen when the electric current goes through a medium that’s non-conductive such as air. Since it reacts with gasses, a plasma is created which can connect two objects that effectively serve as electrodes.

“The electrical fault on the 138,000-volt equipment caused a sustained electrical arc flash that was visible across a wide area,” it added in a statement, saying that the affected equipment was isolated to one single section within the substation.

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Say, NYC, wtf was this? pic.twitter.com/14Udgs0SFt

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) December 28, 2018

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: new york city