Between about 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on May 8, 2026, people across Odisha and eastern India saw a bright, comet-like object with a long orange-white tail climbing through the dusk. It was visible as far away as Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, and videos spread quickly, along with talk of UFOs and an unknown missile.

It came from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast, India’s main ballistic missile test range. Earlier, authorities had issued a notice closing an airspace corridor of about 3,560 kilometers over the Bay of Bengal, more than double the zone for a hypersonic anti-ship missile test a week before. That hinted at something long-range.

The next day, India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation confirmed it. An “advanced Agni missile” carrying a MIRV system, meaning multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles, had been flight-tested, with payloads hitting separate targets spread across the Indian Ocean. MIRV lets one missile carry several warheads aimed at different targets. India first demonstrated it in March 2024 in a test called Mission Divyastra.

The glow is a familiar effect. At dusk, the ground is dark but a rocket’s exhaust plume, high in the atmosphere, is still in sunlight, so it lights up like a comet. The government didn’t name the exact Agni variant.