Case file · Sighting
Los Cristianos and El Médano lights
On 5 March 1979 a huge glowing halo with a bright point at its centre rose over southern Tenerife and was filmed and photographed by many people.
1979 CE · 28.05, -16.72 · status: explained
The sceptical view
It was a Poseidon missile fired from a US submarine; the expanding exhaust cloud lit by the sun creates the 'halo'. The Spanish military did not know this at the time.