This is slightly disconcerting, especially for those of us in the Greater Los Angeles region: On Monday night, a CBS News affiliate in Southern California captured video footage of what appeared to be a rocket or missile shooting into the sky about 35 miles off the coastline, but the Department of Defense wasn’t exactly sure who was behind the launch.

Video of the “mystery missile,” as news outlets have dubbed it, is posted below. –KA

Update: The L.A. Times has more on the story, but still no explanation. The Pentagon says the object is not a threat.

Update 2: After investigating the incident further, the military has concluded that the contrail was caused by an airplane — and blown wildly out of proportion.

CBS News:

Nobody within the Department of Defense that we’ve reached out to has been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said. “So far, we’ve come up empty with any explanation.”

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