'Mysterious' Green Laser Lights Spotted In Night Sky Over Hawaii; What Caused It? [Watch]

A telescope in Hawaii has yet again captured a mysterious sky event. This time, it caught a strange line of lights in the night sky.

The live streaming Subaru-Asahi Star camera on the Subaru Telescope caught the strange sight over Maunakea volcano on Jan. 28.

In a video, shared on YouTube by the team behind the telescope, one can see the mysterious line of lights streaking through the evening sky, as though the area was being scanned. The video even showed a contrast-enhanced view of the event, highlighting the strange event.

"It was only a second or less — but our keen viewers did not miss the event!" the team said, calling it "so mysterious."

The Subaru Telescope's Twitter account also shared a still of the event, particularly the moment when the lights were most apparent. It also shared an explanation for the phenomenon, and it's actually quite interesting.

"The lights are thought to be from a remote-sensing altimeter satellite ICESAT-2/43613," it noted.

It was reportedly the viewers who figured this out.

"What a great people!" the team said. "We really appreciate their great contribution to catching such a rare view!"

What is the ICESAT-2/43613 satellite?

Launched in 2018, the ICESAT-2/43613 is one of NASA's earth observing satellites that measure and monitor the "impacts of the changing environment." It has a laser instrument known as the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS) that scans and measures important variables such as ice-sheets, vegetation and clouds. It's quite possible then that this is what the telescope observed.

The Subaru Telescope is no stranger to such unusual events. It captured a rather mysterious light spiral over Maunakea last month. It also shared footage of the phenomenon, showing its transformation from a moving bright dot to a fully formed spiral in the sky until it disappeared.

Just like the latest event, it was neither the work of aliens nor was it a majestic celestial phenomenon even though the light looked like a spiral galaxy. It was likely the result of a SpaceX launch.