What was the object over Alaska? Pentagon sparks hilarious reactions online 

Alaska recently saw an unidentified “high-altitude object” floating across its skies before U.S. President Joe Biden ordered it to be shot down. The sighting came nearly a week after the U.S. shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that the U.S. downed the object, “out of abundance of caution and at the recommendation of the Pentagon.” He also shared that the object was “the size of a small car” and posed an alleged “reasonable threat” to civilian aviation.

Speaking at the White House, Kirby added that officials do not have any information about the ownership of the object that was floating over Alaska:

“We do not know who owns it, whether it's state owned or corporate owned or privately owned.”

The object was first spotted on Thursday night and was reportedly seen flying at 40,000 ft. over the northern coast of Alaska. It had already flown over the state at a speed of 20 to 40 mph (64km/h) and was seen traveling over the sea towards the North Pole before it was shot down.

Kirby mentioned that the debris in the object was “much, much smaller” than the Chinese balloon downed last week. Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder also confirmed that the object was “not similar in size or shape” to the Chinese balloon. He further added:

"We have no further details about the object at this time, including a description of its capabilities, purpose or origin."

Meanwhile, ABC News reported that the object had “no propulsion,” appeared to be “cylindrical and silver-ish grey” and seemed to be “floating.” Kirby added that two fighter jets approached the object and confirmed that there was no population on board.

President Biden ordered authorities to take down the object after the information was relayed to him.

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How was the object in Alaska shot down?

On Friday, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified, small, and high-altitude object flying high over the Alaskan sky. Authorities shared that the object was shot down off the coast of northeastern Alaska over frozen U.S. territorial waters near the Canadian border.

They also mentioned that it would be “far easier” to retrieve pieces of the new object from the ice as compared to the Chinese balloon, whose debris sank in the ocean after it was shot down.

Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder also confirmed that an F-22 jet had shot down the object with a sidewinder missile at 13:45 EST (18:45 GMT) on Friday.

He added that a “significant amount of debris” had been recovered so far and was being loaded to vessels to be taken to labs for “subsequent analysis.” According to the BBC, the warplane was scrambled from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

John Kirby did not specify the exact location where the object was taken down, but the Federal Aviation Administration said the object closed nearly 10 sq. miles of U.S. airspace above Deadhorse, Northern Alaska, before the F-22 was fired.

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Twitter reacts to Pentagon taking down new object in Alaska

Social media users responded to Pentagon downing new object in U.S. skies with hilarious memes (Image via War Monitor/Twitter)

Nearly a week after the alleged Chinese Spy Balloon looming across the U.S. skies took the country by storm, another small unidentified object was spotted across the Alaskan skies.

Similar to the Chinese balloon, U.S. defense authorities also shot down the new object but made the decision much earlier without any delay. The recent phenomenon also went viral online, and social media users took to Twitter to react to the situation with funny remarks and hilarious memes:

As reactions continued to pour in online, John Kirby mentioned that the new object did not have the “manoeuvrable capability of the Chinese balloon” and seemed to be “virtually at the whim of the wind.”

Meanwhile, the White House confirmed that no other objects of a threatening nature had been identified above the US at the time.