Reflected Sunlight (Score 0)

...The spiral, he claimed, was the result of light reflecting on the leaking fuel. He was quoted as saying the light was sunlight, despite the strange lights showing up at night.

I don't see why this is so far-fetched - it would make sense that a missile at high altitude just before sunrise would shine, since "sunrise" has already occurred at high elevation where earth's shadow no longer obscures the sun. (The event happened around 8:00am) Compare it to a view of a shuttle launch just after sunset: