I think you may be the closest. A thermonuclear powered underground X-Ray LASER used as an advanced Anti Ballistic Missile ABM weapon.

Looking at the luminance of the spiral event and comparing the power requirements needed in comparison to a foreground Halogen Lamp (@ say 100-200 metres), the event if over 800km away would be in the 10-100s of Gigawatts luminous power, well above the energy that can be produced using chemical energy i.e rocket propellant fuel.

My guess in the directed divergent X-RAY energy ground based weapon beam has ionised the atmosphere generating free Crompton electrons which then produced their own self sustaining electromagnetic field which then formed the blue spiral (light emission as seen in a cyclotron), the induced current then set up induced magnetic field perpendicular to the x-ray induced blue spiral current i.e. a huge example of the right hand rule!, which then created a spiraling electromagnetic plasma reaction from charged particles from the sun, which would normally be swept in to the north i.e. magnetic south poles as in the Aurora Borealis.