'Space junk' causes streak of green light above SoCal, Griffith Observatory says

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A streak of bright green light appeared above Southern California on Tuesday.

According to the Griffith Observatory, the flash of light was caused by "space junk," possibly something in orbit that was coming back down to Earth.

Astronomers told ABC7 they spotted the debris with their telescopes at the Griffith Observatory.

Several eyewitnesses reached out to ABC7 about the bright flash of light through social media:

The Griffith Observatory said it was not uncommon for this to occur.

In December 2015, Russian space debris was spotted over Southern California and Nevada, taking social media by storm.

Officials with the U.S. Strategic Command later stated a Russian SL-4 rocket body had reentered the atmosphere.

In November 2015, a missile test flight from a submarine left hundreds of people from Southern California, Nevada and Arizona perplexed as it caused a bright light to streak across the sky.

MORE: Russian space debris streaks across sky

MORE: Naval missile test flight causes bright light to streak across sky

The Pentagon later released a statement explaining that the Navy Strategic Systems Programs had conducted a scheduled test of a Trident II (D5) missile from USS Kentucky, an Ohio class submarine.