"There's no truth to the alien invasion or alien UFO landing"
Con Edison says an electrical fault at a substation in Astoria, Queens caused an electrical arc lighting up the sky over New York City while causing some flight delays and scattered power outages. It happened shortly after 9 p.m. at the Astoria East and North Queens Con Edison plant on 20th Avenue and 32nd Street in Astoria.
Initially thought to be a transformer explosion, Con Ed issued a statement explaining what happened: "An electrical fault on a section of 138,000-volt equipment in one of our Astoria substations caused a transmission disturbance and a sustained electrical arc flash, creating the blue light people witnessed. The equipment that malfunctioned is associated with voltage monitoring within the substation."