Military1962

Starfish Prime nuclear test lights the sky over Hawaii

Name: Starfish Prime nuclear test lights the sky over Hawaii
Start: 1962-07-09
Location: Johnston Atoll

When: 9 Jul 1962
Where: Johnston Atoll
Sources: 1 public source

The aurora-like glow seen from Honolulu after the Starfish Prime test in July 1962 Unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. detonated a thermonuclear warhead about 250 miles above Johnston Atoll. In Hawaii a bright flash was followed by a red, aurora-like glow for hours, some streetlights failed and Kauai's inter-island links were cut: a man-made sky display, not an unknown object.

Sources

OtherSixty Years After, Physicists Model Electromagnetic Pulse of a Once-Secret Nuclear Test (opens in a new tab)American Physical Society (APS News) / 2022-11-10

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Where it fits

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