Bizarre Green, Blue Laser Pointing Up Into the Sky Near Coit Tower in San Francisco Explained

Bizarre Green, Blue Laser Pointing Up Into the Sky Near Coit Tower in San Francisco Explained
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/彭家杰)

Earlier this week, strange green and blue lights were spotted on the skies of San Francisco. The mysterious sight sparked various speculations, and it was later revealed that a data security firm was behind it.

Green and Blue Light at Coit Tower in San Francisco

The blue and green beams of light were observed on Monday and Tuesday evenings, pointing up into the sky close to Coit Tower. Before the individual operating the laser came forward, amateur investigators on Reddit posted several possible theories in response to the laser, which alarmed many locals.

Barrett Lyon, the chief technology officer of data security company Tarsal and the CEO of the aptly called MegaLasers, disclosed that the 400-watt laser was being tested in the parking lot of the Coit Tower in preparation for its eventual inclusion as a show at a forthcoming tech conference.

According to Lyon, on Wednesday night, the laser will be visible in the same location. He claimed that the laser, known as "The Architect," can be seen up to 12 miles away.

He added that the Federal Aviation Administration and local authorities had blessed the corporation.

"It's kind of a fun art project, but it's also kind of a fun celebration for our security company," Lyon said. "We had people from all over the city come up there and ask about it."

LASERS | A massive laser was spotted by Coit Tower in San Francisco this week, with people supposedly able to see it from at least 12 miles away.https://t.co/afHfPeh4ek
Source: SFGATE https://t.co/ZL5iOmriAA
— BOOOM (@Osunga) May 8, 2024

ALSO READ: Hawaii Green Laser Beam Not From NASA's ICESat-2 ATLAS But China's Daqi-1's ACDL

Hawaii Green Laser Beam

Last year, bizarre green lights were also spotted on full display in the skies of Hawaii. Experts at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), which co-owns the camera, said the source was a radar device of the orbiting ICESat-2 satellite. NASA owns a satellite that monitors the thickness of Earth's sea ice, ice sheets, and forests.

However, NAOJ later apologized and said that the source of the laser beam was unlikely to be NASA's satellite. Dr. Martino Anthony, a NASA scientist, denied that the light was from the ICESat-2 satellite based on its trajectory. His colleague, Dr. Alvaro Ivanoff, did a simulation and found another potential source of the green lig—- the Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite's ACDL instrument.

NAOJ apologized for the confusion it caused and for any possible harm done to the ICESat-2 team. They expressed gratitude to NASA for their efforts in locating the light's source.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation in Shanghai's Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) is responsible for developing the Daqi-1 atmospheric monitoring satellite.

Operating in a sun-synchronous orbit, its purpose is to surveil the atmospheric environment thoroughly. It offers thorough monitoring by combining passive and active sensing.

Daqi-1 can track the concentration of carbon dioxide, pollutant gases such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide, and fine particle pollution such as PM2.5.

China plans to build a fleet of Daqi satellites to support scientific studies on global climate change and environmental authorities with remote sensing data.