Americans freak out during missile test, mistake for UFO

Social media went into meltdown after a Trident missile test sparked a flurry of speculation that a UFO had arrived.

Missile launch creates mass speculation a UFO has arrived in California. (Twitter/@humanoidhistory) Source: Twitter

A missile test off the California coast has sparked a frenzy on social media, with some believing they'd just seen a UFO.

Local media says the streaking light was visible as far away as Nevada and Arizona and authorities were flooded with calls.

But just when some were predicting the end of the world, officials moved to clear up the mystery, saying it was part of a scheduled system evaluation test.