What appeared to be a fleet of invading space alien ships above Sacramento and much of Northern California Friday night spurred plenty of Cloverfield chatter, but it was apparently just flying, discarded parts from the International Space Station.

Quite a shock for people in Sacramento who were drunk and/or high on St. Patrick’s Day at roughly 9:30 p.m. on Friday night. As seen below, revelers saw the central California skies alight with lights moving consistent with the appearance of what you’d figure it would look like if aliens were invading planet Earth.

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But KPIX confirms the streaks of light were space debris from the International Space Station. “The U.S. Space Force confirmed the re-entry path over California for the Inter-Orbit Communication System,” which had once been part of the International Space Station, KPIX reports. (Yes, that agency still has the Trump-era name “Space Force.”)

“What you saw was the breakup of a communications module that had been attached to the International Space Station,” Chabot Space and Science Center adjunct astronomer Gerald McKeegan told NBC Bay Area in the video above. “In 2020, after they were no longer using it, they detached it and just let it drift in orbit. And eventually that orbit decayed, and it reentered the atmosphere over central California.”

SFGate directs us to the above tweet, which shows us what the contraption looked like before it burned to bits on reentry, thereby creating Friday’s light show.

“The hope was that it would reenter on the next orbit, where it would be out over the Pacific Ocean. Most of the earth is covered with water,” McKeegan continued. “This one happened to come down a little earlier than expected.”

But even if it wasn’t an alien invasion, is there any risk this space junk could strike people, or strike areas that could the suffer enormous fires? Astronomers think not.

“Likely, most of it broke up and burned in the atmosphere as it first encountered the thin air at that altitude, and friction caused it to break up and burn apart. And you could clearly see that’s what was happening as they were coming down,” McKeegan said.

Likely????

Related: Weird Lights Over The Mission Fuel Nationwide UFO Rumors. Are They Coming For Our Hipsters? [SFist]

Image: ArthurM40330824 via Twitter

In honor of making the 49ers making the playoffs, San Francisco City Hall dons red and yellow (gold?) hues. Fancy. (Photo by Erik Wilson.)

The Bay Lights have gotten plenty of attention on the western span of the Bay Bridge, but the same engineer who got those installed worked on the high-tech, permanent lighting system on the new eastern span, which features 48,000 individual LEDs. It turns out that the many delays that caused the bridge to be at least a decade late allowed the lighting design to take advantage of the latest in lighting technology, most of which didn't exist just a few years ago.

Saeed Shahmirzai, who worked as lead engineer on the Bay Lights, also served as engineer for the project of lighting the new span.

As the Contra Costa Times reports, the lighting for the new span was designed and executed by Iowa-based Musco Lighting, who also lit the new Yankee Stadium and the White House. It features a soft white bath of light over the wide bridge decks that's way easier on the eyes than the harsh, orange glare of the lighting on the cantilever span, and the existing western span. All the LEDs and the 1,521 fixtures holding them were pre-aimed by Musco using lighting design software, and unlike traditional sodium vapor bulbs, they need replacing every 10 to 15 years, instead of every 2 years.

Also, those cool light poles that line the entire approach to the suspension part of the span, with the half-spirals of angled lights, have movable fixtures controlled by antenna — therefore a guy on a laptop could remotely move each of them if necessary. (Here's hoping this doesn't become a hacking target.)

See more in the video below.

[CC Times]

While details about the cause of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 continue to unfold, Lee Kang Kuk, the pilot of the 777 Boeing that killed two and injured dozens, told federal crash investigators that he was "temporarily blinded by a bright light when 500 feet above the ground."

The alleged flash reportedly happened around 35 seconds before it hit the runway, around 500 feet off the ground. This is when the aircraft slowed down and dropped to the runway before crashing.

The Chronicle reports:

The pilot, who was making his first approach into the airport in a Boeing 777, told South Korean and American investigators that as the jetliner descended to 500 feet in altitude, something flashed in his eyes, said Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

"We really don't know at this point what it could have been," Hersman said after a reporter at the news conference asked whether it could have been a laser. "We need to look into it. We need to understand what he's talking about. We may need to follow up with him."

However, as USA Today goes on to point out, the flash shouldn't have affected his ability to land the plane "because the pilot was still able to see the flight control instruments after the flash."

Jeff Bridges in Tron, 1982: he won us over with his raffish charm and weird bodysuit. Now Mission Bicycle wants his sweet lightbike, too.

The Valencia Street purveyors of bikes for city cruising are collaborating with Revolights to release a new round of red and white LED lights that install directly to wheels for side-visibility, safety and a high pretty-darn-cool factor. The project absolutely demolished its Kickstarter goal with $81,333 pledged of its $14,500 goal, which we're guessing means that kids these days are kinda riding their bikes around (or, alternately, not into getting hit at night due to lack of visibility). When the wheels spin, the LEDs create a trippy, the-future-is-now light show that casts red and white light forward and aft.

With the volume of interest on the Kickstarter campaign, we're readying ourselves for an influx of lightbikes on city streets. Which could look a little something like this:

Revolights™. Now landed. from revolights on Vimeo.

Or this:

[Kickstarter]

Scores of parties (none of which the staff at SFist has been invited to, damnit) are happening tonight around the Embarcadero in honor of The Bay Lights, which begins in just a few hours. We've been championing this project since we first got wind of it, so we're wildly excited to see it twinkle up the night. Using 25,000 LEDs, artist Leo Villareal creates patterns from "waves in the San Francisco Bay, traffic, wind, and the environment to complete his vision." Which is to say, it should look super rad.

Here's where you can and should watch tonight's show.

If you cannot make it to the Emabrcadero to see the sculpture's debut, check out thebaylights.org for a live viewing.

The project is expected to generating a whopping $97 million for the Bay Area economy. The Creators Project latest in-depth documentary, called The Bay Lights Project, will focus on the massive project and will be released later this month on March 12. Below, a preview of the documentary:

...a Christmas tree of light was born. (Photo by Mark.2000.)

Installation has begun on the new light sculpture thing we told you about in September on the cables of the Bay Bridge. It's an LED art installation by artist Leo Villareal, and it's in celebration of the bridge's 75th anniversary, which technically was last year, but you know, some things happen late in S.F.

The full unveiling won't happen until March, after which the lights will be on for two years, but there's a new video of some of the 25,000 LED lights getting installed and tested along the span this past week. As the sponsor organization The Bay Lights exclaims, "1,000 lights in motion. 24,000 to go!"

In any event, it looks awesome, we just hope it doesn't cause too many car crashes in all of its distracting awesomeness, on the Embarcadero, the bridge, or wherever else.

Below, the earlier preview of the project from ABC 7's finest wig model, Don Sanchez.

In an effort to keep cyclists safe and splat-free during our post-daylight savings months, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will hand out free bike lights starting tonight until December 13.

"With 71% more people biking in San Francisco today than five years ago, it’s clear that bicycling is booming in San Francisco. We’re thrilled to see bike lanes across the city filled with moms biking with kids, business people biking to work and older people commuting around town," said Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the 12,000-member San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. "The 'Light up the Night' campaign is a great way to ensure that all of these new and experienced bicycle commuters are safe and visible during the darkest time of the year."

Free bike light stations will be up from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. throughout the city. Where? Not sure, exactly. According to SFBC, "In an effort to ensure the lights go to those who truly need them, locations of 'Light up the Night' stations will be kept secret. "

So, you know, good luck, dark riders. May you find the light.

Former Mayor Gavin Newsom and still reigning Mayor Willie Brown announced a glorious new light project that's set to make everything better. Why? Because tiny LED lights make everything better. Inspired by the bridge's 75th anniversary, according to SF Appeal, artist Ben Davis Leo Villareal will create a wondrous lighting spectacular of lights, "which will not be visible to drivers on the bridge but can be seen from a distance" and "will be mounted on the vertical cables of the western span and will operate for about seven hours per night."

"This is the kind of thing we need to do to remind people what a special place this is," Newsom said. "I think this thing is going to blow people away." (He's right.) Also, you guys, it's going to take around $2.5 million more for completion. Which is mere pennies, really, if you consider the city is rife with uninspired street art, DIY nonsense, and Diego Riveraesque murals that make our eyelids droop and then fall into a coma and then die.

If you would like to donate to the "The Bay Lights" project, and why shouldn't you?, payments can be sent via www.causes.com/thebaylights.

[SF Appeal]

Your average hippie/Burning Man dance of light (is there a technical name for this kind of routine?) turns into a spectacular shot of enveloping violet waves and glimmer care of this photo snapped by danishdynamite.

This time of year, landmarks and destinations alike are dressed in their most festive attire, such as the Christmas trees you'll find at both Union Square and Ghirardelli. But the best displays are never commercially sponsored, right? So send us photos of your light display and we'll feature the best ones here on SFist. And the photo doesn't have to be of your house. If you have some neighbor that puts the Griswolds to shame, snap a photo and send it in. We'd love to see it!

Just follow the instructions below to send us your photo:

• Upload your photo to Flickr.com.


• Include the full address of the light display in either the title or the description (so we can visit).


• Add your photo to the SFist Flickr group.


• Tag your photo with the following - sfistxmaslights2011

Thanks. And a merry [insert name of preferred December holiday here] to all!