Strange flashes of brilliant light seen near a highly sensitive military installation in California over the weekend have fueled online debate about what sparked the daytime bursts.
Video shared on X by The Informant appears to show repeated, powerful flashes breaking across the Mojave Desert, followed by widening glows that briefly brighten the landscape near Edwards Air Force Base.
Located roughly 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Edwards Air Force Base is one of the United States’ most prominent hubs for flight research, aerospace development and aircraft testing.
The flashes were captured by a publicly accessible ALERTCalifornia wildlife camera, part of a monitoring system operated through the University of California San Diego.
Authorities have not issued an official explanation for the lights, leaving social media users to fill the gap with theories ranging from routine glare to clandestine military activity.
‘This is a test,’ one user wrote, while another speculated: ‘It looks like a phenomenon coming from underground military authorities. Must investigate ASAP.’
Still, many observers offered a more straightforward explanation, arguing the flashes may simply be sunlight reflecting off large solar panel arrays in the area.
Edwards is home to the sprawling Edwards & Sanborn Solar and Energy Storage Project, a 4,600-acre development spread across private land and leased base property on the facility’s northwestern edge.
Mysterious bright flashes were spotted near a top-secret military base in California over the weekend
The Daily Mail has contacted Edwards Air Force Base for comment.
A sprawling solar facility was unveiled on the northwestern edge of Edwards Air Force Base in February 2023.
Developed with Terra-Gen LLC, the project included nearly two million solar panels, making it the largest solar array in US Air Force history.
The facility could generate up to 1,300 megawatts of electricity for California’s power grid, enough to supply more than 238,000 homes while preventing an estimated 320,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
Although solar panels are designed to absorb sunlight, their glass surfaces can still produce intense momentary reflections known as glint when the sun and observer align at certain angles.
The enormous solar farm near Edwards could therefore be one possible explanation.
However, not everyone online is sold on the idea.
‘Probably moving a secret aircraft and they’re using floodlights to screen it from observers,’ one user commented on the video.
Edwards Air Force Base, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is known as a premier center for flight research and aircraft testing
The footage has trigtgered speculation over what caused the unexplained bursts in broad daylight
Another said: ‘All the people saying solar panels are bots you can easily tell. This is most likely some weapons test, or us getting got by a foreign state.’
Described as an ‘irreplaceable national asset,’ these days Edwards Air Force Base remains at the center of a significant portion of the US Air Force’s aircraft test and development efforts.
All Air Force aircraft are tested there, along with some Navy and Army aircraft, according to the base.
‘Arguably, more major milestones in flight have occurred at this base than anywhere else in the world,’ according to the base.
It’s run by the 412th Test Wing, which also conducts developmental testing of Air Force weapons systems, software and components before purchase by the service as well as throughout their life span.
