Movies and video games have taught me this means Armageddon is nigh.

 

I'm pretty sure this is the part where the Covenant glasses our planet to kingdom come.

The good news?

It's not aliens.

Apparently it's actually Elon Musk's fault:

A video… of the ethereal light show was captured Jan. 18 by the Subaru-Asahi Star Camera — co-owned by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and Japanese news agency Asahi Shimbun — attached to the Subaru telescope on top of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. In the sped-up footage, a small blob of light unfurls into a perfect glowing whirlpool that moves across the sky for several minutes before fading away into nothingness.

Observatory staff believe it was the spent fuel of a SpaceX launch.

From Space.com:

During past appearances of the spiral, space watchers have said the shape arises as the upper stage of the Falcon 9 vents unneeded fuel during its long descent into the ocean.

"The upper stage was probably spinning on its longest axis to stabilize flight orientation, hence the spiral shape," Spaceweather.com wrote of a June 2022 launch. "Similar spirals have been seen after previous Falcon 9 launches."

Still, if there are any supersoldiers in Mjolnir power armor out there… you might wanna keep your eyes on the sky.