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Gigantic Spiral of Light Observed Over Norway; Rocket To Blame?
Ch_Omega writes "A mysterious light display appearing over Norway last night (more pictures) has left thousands of residents in the north of the country baffled. Witnesses from Trøndelag to Finnmark compared the amazing display to anything from a Russian rocket to a meteor to a shock wave — although no one appears to have mentioned UFOs yet. The phenomenon began when what appeared to be a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain. It stopped mid-air, then began to circulate. Within seconds a giant spiral had covered the entire sky. Then a green-blue beam of light shot out from its center — lasting for ten to twelve minutes before disappearing completely. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with telephone calls after the light storm — which astronomers have said did not appear to have been connected to the aurora, or Northern Lights, so common in that area of the world." The Bad Astronomer makes the case that a malfunctioning rocket spewing fuel is a parsimonious explanation, backed up by witnesses to similar events and a cool simulation (on video). An anonymous reader suggests that this Proton-M Carrier Rocket might be responsible for the display.
The reason nobody's mentioned UFOs yet is because whatever it was originated from the Earth.
No, the reason nobody's mentioned UFOs yet is because this phenomenon was spotted over Norway, not Arkansas.
This ain't rocket surgery.
UFO's are unidentified. Everything about a UFO is unknown. Space is one, albeit very unlikely, UFO hypothesis.
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If anyone who has a deeper understanding of the subject can come up with a sufficiently detailed and plausible explanation of how exactly a rocket may have caused this, I'm all ears.
Bad Astronomer has a good write-up, and he certainly knows his stuff. It's corroborated by a comment on the blog there as well:
That reminds me of something we saw waaay back in the late 1980’s during a public night at our observatory. All of a sudden there was a gasp from the crowd, and we looked out the dome to see this bright glowing ball traveling south to north (mostly). When we moved the telescope over to it, we could see in the eyepiece a small object from which the stuff was jetting out from. Later we found out it was a booster stage venting unused propellant.
Write your representatives! Repeal the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics!
"While I consider myself a skeptic, the "it's a rocket" explanation sounds really dubious to m""
Because you are a skeptic is why you question it.
The linked photos are of a long exposure time. Actual videos of the event make it pretty clear it's a rocket spinning out of control and spews something out while it spins. Probably propellant. It's altitude is high enough to be in the Sun light.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
For the record, the Russians announced there would be a launch there, then this happened, then they deny ever doing a launch.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The article about the Russian Proton-M Carrier Rocket is from Dec 7th of....2005?
That would explain a number of things.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
bah, it's unconfirmed [citation needed]. Russians aren't going to confirm or deny it yet...
Nothing to see here.
While I suspect this is actually the case, a link to a recently written paragraph with no citation on Wikipedia is hardly evidence.
Did you write that third paragraph yourself?
I am sure someone can identify it, but won't.
I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.