Londoners have been looking up at the sky and could be forgiven for thinking the world was ending this weekend.
A beam of light – thought to be one of the most powerful lasers on earth – could be seen for miles around the capital.
Theories are abound about whether it was an Independence Day-style alien invasion or thanking the Batman that has been paying for people’s petrol.
‘This is apparently an art installation laser shining tonight in north London, & not The War of the Worlds’, one Londoner explained on X.
One intrepid TikTokker asked where his gold was when he found the source of the beam at The Danish Church in Regent’s Park.
Strange blue light (lazer?) in the sky tonight over London. As if we are living in a bubble and someone opened it up a crack and we are peering into another universe #London pic.twitter.com/Ef0YjbBUrM
— lucy francis (@lucyfrancis_tri) October 17, 2026
According to the artist, it is a modified military-grade laser system emitting a high-intensity beam of light.
During development, ‘test projections were detected from the International Space Station, approximately 250 miles above Earth’.
The British artist has previously spoken of his desire to ‘make light, not war’ by using the laserbeam that can be seen from space.
Levine, who has exhibited his previous light installations at Cornwall’s Eden Project and at Glastonbury Festival, said he wanted viewers to reach a ‘collective state of meditation’ from the project.
‘For me, it’s all about taking my audience towards stillness,’ he added.
‘We’re bombarded with information. There’s so much going on, we haven’t really evolved quickly enough to kind of process it all.’
The laser display was scheduled to appear after dark on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 October.
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The wider Light Eaters exhibition continues today, Sunday 18 October, with free admission between 11am and 5pm.