Aliens? Celestial phenomenon? Weed facility? Bizarre pink glow over an Australian town

In Australia, residents in the northern Victorian town of Mildura were left stunned when they saw a bright pink glow in the skies. The bizarre pink light appeared to be some scene from a science-fiction movie or aurora or maybe some alien invasion.

The eerie pink light was seen in the cloudy night sky in Mildura on Tuesday night. The images went viral on social media forums and people were speculating what it could be.

One user wrote on Facebook: "I read about a potential solar flare due to hit on Tuesday." Another said: "Portal to the time-space continuum…"

Some went a little too far as they compared the light to alien invasion or movies.

See images here:

But the light turned out to be something else. Cann Group, a pharmaceutical industry company, revealed the actual source of the pink glow to ABC Mildura-Swan Hill.

CEO Peter Crock told ABC Mildura-Swan Hill Breakfast on Wednesday that last night's pink phenomenon was the lights on in Cann Group's new area of its medicinal cannabis facility.

He said: "As you might know, cannabis grows on an extended day length. The flowering zone is 12 hours light and 12 hours dark, which is normally 7am to 7pm. With the new zone coming into use in the next day or two, we have had the lights on."

"Normally, the blackout blinds close at the same time as the sun sets, but last night we had the lights on and the blinds hadn't yet closed, so there was a period where it created a glow. At 7pm when we put the plants to sleep the lights went off," he added.

So it was a cannabis facility, not aliens. Phew!

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