30 Years Ago, Los Angeles Residents Reported Seeing the Milky Way Stars — Today, We Know the Truth!

Have you ever seen the Milky Way? Because yes, if you did not know, it is largely possible to see our galaxy, at least its slice, from our planet. On January 17, 1994, the inhabitants of Los Angeles witnessed this incredible show. However, he tells himself a rumor that the Angelenos, frightened to the vision of the Milky Way, called the help, the 911, to ask what this strange shape was in the sky.

Let's start from the facts: January 17, 1994, Los Angeles is plunged into darkness

It's a fact. All rumors, conspiracy theories or even legends leave, at some point, of a true story. This anchors the story in reality and giving it credit as to the following events.

So what are the facts?

During the night of January 17, 1994, at 4:31 am, the earthquake of Northridge, an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 shakes the city of Los Angeles for eight seconds. What brutally awaken the inhabitants of the City of Angels. As a result of the shock, the current was cut throughout the city, plunging Los Angeles into total darkness.

Between 60 and 70 people died of the earthquake and nearly 9,000 were injured. The cost of the damage was estimated at a price of around $ 50 billion and the tremors of this earthquake were felt in several cities of neighboring states.

Here are the established facts which therefore took place in Los Angeles on January 17, 1994.

Now let's add another information, too.

Immersed in total darkness, which is all logical at 4:31 am, the city of Los Angeles has therefore seen all its lights turn off. However, looking up at the sky, the inhabitants of the city of angels were able to attend an impressive spectacle: the vision of the Milky Way. This seems logical, with regard to the light pollution which had suddenly passed out and which prevents being able to observe the stars from the big cities which are constantly lit.

And finally, make way for rumor.

Following this vision of the Milky Way, he tells himself about Reddit and other forums, and even some news sites, as emergency call centers as well as the Griffith Observatory received calls from panicked and frightened people. For what ? They would have described the presence of a strange cloud above their heads. Yes. This cloud in question was indeed the Milky Way.

So, true or false?

It is always difficult to disentangle the true from the false, even more when the archives ask us to go back in time. But let's try to give the clearest answer possible as to this mystery in Los Angeles.

In view of the first information that we have been given and which is the facts established, it seems complicated to give credit to this rumor. For what ? And good for several reasons:

There is little chance that calls, if they took place, were made on January 17 at 4:31 a.m. just after the earthquake. It is a safe bet that if calls have been made to various emergency centers, they directly concerned the event that had just occurred. Especially since the latter, in addition to the power outage, triggered fires and the degradation of certain buildings.

Not sure that the fact that we can see the stars, even if it is the Milky Way, from Los Angeles is really a priority in these cases. But we can be wrong.

“” “They were able to call later”. It's possible yes. But according to a timeline events published on the website of NBC Los Angeles In 2018, the current was restored in the city, with the exception of 150,000 housing units and business premises, at 3:15 p.m., about ten hours after the earthquake. Electricity will return throughout the city on January 20 in the morning.

This would therefore imply that the nights that followed the gradual return of the current, the city could probably have been enlightened, surely preventing the observation of the sky. Even if, once again, it was perhaps not a priority at that time. Especially since the timeline detailed broadcast on NBC Los Angeles in no way specifies such an event.

So our conclusion could tend towards a false rumor made by internet or at least broadcast there.

However, as we said above, rumors do not come out of nowhere and it is possible that a few calls, but far too little to talk about all the inhabitants of Los Angeles in general, were able to concern the presence of the strange cloud which was in fact the Milky Way.

For anecdote, this rumor is an argument which is often used to explain the effects of light pollution on the observation of the sky and the fact that today, it is almost impossible to carry out such an act, without having to isolate yourself in the great outdoors.

Source : Reddit / NBC Los Angeles