The sky turned blue above New York City on Thursday night. Here's why

The sky above New York City was mysteriously blue on Thursday night.

It wasn't an alien invasion. Let's call it the Astoria Borealis.

A transformer explosion at a Con Edison facility in Queens caused a bright blue light that engulfed the sky in the Astoria section of Queens, forcing the temporary closure of LaGuardia Airport and setting off an instant buzz on Twitter.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo described a “major electrical failure” at the electrical substation along the East River, near the Rikers Island prison complex and across a small bay from LaGuardia.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s spokesman Eric Phillips tweeted that the lights were attributable to a “blown transformer” at the Queens facility. Fire officials fielded numerous calls for reports of explosions in the Long Island City and Astoria areas, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority said power outages affected multiple trains.

The lights caused a stir on social media as several witnesses posted photographs and videos of a bright, blue flash that filled the night’s sky. The Manhattan skyline and iconic East River bridges were suddenly silhouetted against a backdrop of pulsating light.

People flocked to social media to find out what happened and to share their views of the plumes of smoke pouring from the transformer.

“It was pitch black outside and then suddenly the whole side of the eastern sky was lighting up and changing colors,” said Madeleine Frank Reeves, who saw the lights from her Upper West Side apartment. “It lasted a couple of minutes.”

A sampling of the Twitter chatter:

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on North Jersey Record: The sky turned blue above New York City on Thursday night. Here's why