---
title: "Satellite Shoots Wall of Green Lasers Down to Earth"
description: "Hawaii's Big Island was treated to a light show of space lasers — but luckily, it wasn't aliens that put on the stunning spectacle."
date: "2023-02-03"
modified: "2023-04-18"
authors:
  - name: "Noor Al-Sibai"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/lasers-wall-hawaii-nasa"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "Hawaii"
  - "NASA"
  - "satellites"
  - "the digest"
---

# Satellite Shoots Wall of Green Lasers Down to Earth

![Hawaii's Big Island was treated to a light show of space lasers — but luckily, it wasn't aliens that put on the stunning spectacle.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/lasers-wall-hawaii-nasa.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PMiND4Yw&ab_channel=%E7%AE%A1%E7%90%86%E4%BA%BA_SubaruTel_StarCamAdmin" target="\_blank"\>Subaru Telescope via YouTube / Futurism\</a\>\</em\>*

## Rain On Me

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a wall of lasers?

Hawaiians have been mystified by the bizarre light show that's played across their skies in recent weeks — and as [*The Debrief* reports](<https://thedebrief.org/mysterious-beams-of-light-and-curious-spirals-hawaiis-subaru-asahi-star-camera-keeps-capturing-bizarre-scenes-in-the-night-sky/>), the "Matrix Code"-esque lasers' origins are terrestrial in nature, even if they did come from space itself.

Captured on January 28 by the Subaru-Asahi camera that livestreams the night sky from the Big Island's [hotly-contested Mauna Kea volcano](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hawaiians-protest-observatory-construction>), the spectacle was initially believed to be the work of lasers from NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2) orbiter.

Launched in 2018, ICESat-2's mission is, [as NASA describes](<https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/>), to compile a "comprehensive measurement of Earth’s surface" and map the surface out "in cool three-dimensional details." Its only onboard instrument is the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter, which the punny agency refers to as ATLAS — and it's that mythologically-monikered machine that is believed to have caused the "digital rain" effect seen from the island state.

However, NASA later said that its ICESat-2 was not the source of the lasers, with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan saying that they likely originated with a Chinese satellite instead.

https://twitter.com/newscientist/status/1620800978738896899

## Pretty Lights

Even if it wasn't the source of the laser light, ICESat-2 is still an intriguing satellite — and honestly kinda cool — not only because it's pointed towards its planet of origin, but also because its uber-sensitive lasers are able to detect minute terrestrial details such as the [thickness of the ice over the Arctic sea](<https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/127/2023/?s=03>), helping scientists see [how fast manmade climate change is ruining our planet](<https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2794/counting-on-nasas-icesat-2/>).

As the *Debrief* notes, the ICESat-2's laser light show isn't the only trippy thing that the Subaru-Asahi camera has captured recently. Earlier in January, it also [picked up a strange spiral in the sky](<https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1619768211884351488>) that was the result of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch — though in that case, it wasn't entirely unprecedented, as similar [SpaceX spirals](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spiral-ufo-spacex>) have been witnessed [as far back as 2018](<https://www.space.com/39338-spacex-zuma-rocket-sky-spiral-photos.html>).

Given that the double Japanese-branded camera was [only started operations in 2021](<https://subarutelescope.org/en/news/topics/2021/04/21/2946.html>), these dueling headlines are proof positive that it'll continue to garner headlines — and give us incredible photos — of the Hawaiian night sky.

*Updated to clarify claims around the source of the mysterious light.*

**More on satellites:** [*SpaceX to Launch "Hunter" Satellites for Targeting Rival Spacecraft*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hunter-satellites-targeting-rival-spacecraft>)

## Author
At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/noorfromfuturism.bsky.social>)