New York governor Andrew Cuomo brought an alien mask to a news conference about a utility equipment failure that caused an eerie flash of blue light in the sky over New York City.

Cuomo said on Friday that the incident, which caused power outages and grounded some flights at LaGuardia Airport on Thursday night, was an electrical malfunction.

New Yorkers posted eerie photos of the otherworldly flash of light on social media and joked about an alien invasion.

Even the New York Police Department tweeted there was 'no evidence of extraterrestrial activity' on Thursday.

Cuomo said on Friday that the electrical failure in Queens 'was more dramatic than destructive.'

But he said he would ask the state Public Service Commission to work together with the utility company of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (Con Ed) to identify the cause and help ensure that it doesn't happen again.

During a news conference streamed from the governor's press page on Facebook, Cuomo had a little fun with the mishap.

'We did find one piece of evidence that was a little peculiar. This was on the site,' Cuomo said, while pulling out an alien mask.

Keeping a completely straight face, he went on:

'Which has raised some questions, but I'm told it's a piece of safety equipment for workers, which I believe.'

With that, he pulled the mask down and folded it up. No longer able to keep it together, his lips turned up in a big smile.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured) brought an alien mask to a news conference on Friday about a utility equipment failure that cast an eerie flash of blue light over New York City on Thursday

Cuomo said on Friday that the incident, which caused power outages and grounded some flights at LaGuardia Airport on Thursday night, was an electrical malfunction. The blue light as it appeared over New York City on Thursday is pictured

Even the New York Police Department tweeted there was 'no evidence of extraterrestrial activity' on Thursday

This photo shows blue light over New York, as seen from Manhattan borrough of New York on Thursday. The chairman explained that it was a CCPD, or capacitive coupling detection device, that failed and shot 38,000 volts of electricity 20 feet (6 meters) up in the air

'But there is no truth to the alien invasion or alien/UFO landing, whatsover,' he said, still grinning from ear to ear as he placed the mask in his pocket.

After his joke was over, Cuomo turned the news conference over to John McAvoy, the chairman of Con Edison electric company to give more specifics about what actually happened in New York on Thursday.

The chairman explained that it was a CCPD, or capacitive coupling detection device, that failed.

'Think of it as something that monitors and reports voltage back to our control centers and to protective systems,' McAvoyJohn McAvoy said.

Con Ed is still working to figure out what caused the high-voltage equipment failure that unleashed an otherworldly flash of bright blue light in the night sky over Astoria.

Although Con Ed initially described a 'brief electrical fire' at its power substation in Queens, spokesman Bob McGee said on Friday that what happened was what's called an 'arc flash' which is somewhat like a bolt of lightning.

The 'arc flash' occurred after the malfunction in equipment carried 138,000 volts of electricity 20 feet (6 meters) up in the air.

He said the flash subsided on its own.