That streak across the Phoenix sky wasn't a UFO

Scores of Phoenix-area residents spotted a streak of smoke and blue light across the night sky Friday, prompting speculation about what it could be.

Relax, no UFOs this time.

SpaceX, a private space-exploration company, reported that it had launched a rocket carrying satellites from Southern California earlier in the evening.

Numerous area residents were posting photos on Twitter and contacting The Arizona Republic about the stunning sight.

Pam Sutton of Maricopa said she and her husband were driving around 7 p.m. when it was pitch black outside. 

"We saw this really bright, bright light shining from an object moving away," Sutton said. "It looked like a UFO to us."

She said everyone was also pulled over on the side of the road taping the event.

Even former Gov. Jan Brewer saw it.

"It was a traveling, quite expedient, little light. It was bright blue, leaving a trail of light particles," Leona Henry, an officer at Lewis Prison in Buckeye, told The Republic. 

Henry ruled out Northern Lights since Arizona is too far south, then wondered if it was a missile from North Korea.

"It left this gorgeous blue trail across the entire sky," she said. "It just lit up the sky."

SpaceX tweeted around 4:30 p.m. that its launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Santa Barbara would occur in about an hour.

The Iridium-4 is the fourth set of 10 satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for its global satellite constellation, the company said on its website. A SpaceX spokesman did not immediately return a request for confirmation.

"We were told it was indeed the SpaceX Rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base," Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Rob McDade said in an email.

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