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in voltage-monitoring equipment triggered a fire in the
Astoria East substation on 20th Avenue and 32nd Street in Queens. While only part of a single section within the substation, it caused an intense blue light that could be seen for miles and lit up the night sky bright enough to resemble
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when touting a new bill studying the closure of the city's gas-fired power plants. On
February 11, 2019, the City Council held a hearing on the causes of the accident. Constantinides remarked that there were both air quality and safety concerns and that he wanted "hard answers."
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While the substation was equipped with systems that should have stopped the accident immediately, it took four minutes to cut the flow of electricity. Due to the "apocalyptic" appearance of the aerial lights, some believed they were caused by an
62:, lighting up the sky with a blue-green spectacle visible for miles around and as far as New Jersey. It received the humorous name "Astoria Borealis" due to its resemblance to the northern lights. The event was covered extensively on
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222:"The Real Reason the Sky Turned Turquoise in NYC: The glow was generated by burning aluminum when one small bit of decidedly earthly Queens became momentarily hotter than the sun"
95:, despite the white color of the explosion itself. LaGuardia Airport, which suffered an outage due to the accident, was forced to temporarily close. Power was also knocked out at
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temporarily lost power, but there were neither deaths nor injuries. Such was the magnitude of the bizarre illumination that
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197:"Night sky over New York turns blue after electrical fault at Queens Con Edison power plant causes 'arc flash'"
391:"After 'Astoria Borealis,' Queens lawmaker touts new bill to study elimination of gas-powered electric plants"
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daytime—clearly visible across other boroughs and as far as New Jersey. The blue color was caused by
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lines were disrupted. It was dubbed "Astoria
Borealis" by residents and the news media.
306:"'No Evidence Of Extraterrestrial Activity,' NYPD Says As City Is Bathed In Blue Light"
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used the incident as an example of why New York should no longer rely on
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336:"City Council Questions Con Ed About What Caused 'Astoria Borealis'"
272:"Rare phenomenon caused the shocking blue glow over NYC's skies"
247:"Con Ed: New York 'transformer explosion' actually an arc flash"
50:, on December 27, 2018. During the incident, a 138,000 volt
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Energy accidents and incidents in the United States
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389:O'Connell-Domenech, Alejandra (2019-01-09).
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82:On the night of December 27, 2018, an
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304:Chappell, Bill (2018-12-28).
220:Daly, Michael (2018-12-28).
195:Chasan, Aliza (2018-12-27).
364:CBS New York (2018-12-28).
334:CBS New York (2019-02-11).
125:New York City Councilmember
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176:Science fiction portal
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152:New York City portal
54:failed, resulting in an
19:Not to be confused with
16:2018 electrical accident
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251:Power Transformer News
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164:Energy portal
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132:fossil fuels
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64:social media
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113:nuclear war
99:, and some
93:cloud cover
415:Categories
400:2023-03-24
375:2023-03-24
347:2023-03-24
315:2019-01-01
281:2019-01-01
256:2019-01-01
231:2019-01-01
206:2019-01-01
182:References
89:refraction
36:Con Edison
119:Aftermath
56:arc flash
370:CBS News
341:CBS News
139:See also
91:off the
78:Incident
60:aluminum
40:Astoria
30:was an
101:subway
66:, and
44:Queens
201:PIX11
26:The
395:QNS
310:NPR
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