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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.
are you sure it wasn't the asgard vs the goauld over scandinavia?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk.nyud.net/news/worldnews/article-1234430/Mystery-spiral-blue-light-display-hovers-Norway.html
http://i.dailymail.co.uk.nyud.net/i/pix/2009/12/09/article-1234430-07887B10000005DC-48_634x421.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk.nyud.net/i/pix/2009/12/09/article-1234430-0787DEA4000005DC-908_634x348.jpg
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Obama is soon in Oslo for the Nobel Peace Price Ceremony. Did you think Russia could just sit and watch?
Russia is well-known for creating such distress to their non-allies.
Frightened? Mission completed. End of story.
The third picture on the second link clearly shows a vapour trail lit by the fading sunset. However I think physicists are going to have a hard time explaining a rotating spiral and a blue beam of light with ice crystals.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
My vote's on the rocket hypothesis.
While I consider myself a skeptic, the "it's a rocket" explanation sounds really dubious to me - it's like hearing loud creaking noises and banging and saying "oh, it's just wind" - disregarding the fact that wind isn't capable of producing such noise.
IANARS, but I haven't ever seen anything even close to what the photos look like IRL, nor on any real photos, including those of various rocket launches, etc. Nor can I think of any sound reason as to why a flying or even exploding rocket may produce an effect such as this, especially the beam (keep in mind that it appeared after the rotating sphere, not before it).
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.
Oh, as a side note (and to keep the conspiracy theory going), the "someone [Russians?] testing a new secret rocket" and "aliens!" theories are not mutually exclusive. If we see Poland invaded tomorrow from the east by hovertanks on antigravs with huge red stars painted of them, we'll know for sure.
So what you are saying is that the editors should be more parsimonious in their use of the English language?
No other object has been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus.
Even the former leader of your United States of America, James Earl Carter Jr., thought he saw a UFO once, but it's been proven he only saw the planet Venus.
Venus was at its peak brilliance last night. You probably thought you saw something up in the sky other than Venus, but I assure you, it was Venus.
Your scientists have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception. Yet you somehow brazenly declare seeing is believing?
Your scientific illiteracy makes me shudder, and I wouldn't flaunt your ignorance by telling anyone that you saw anything last night other than the planet Venus, because if you do, you're a dead man.
First, weather control. Now, this. The Soviets are up to something, and you know Putin is behind all this. He's been playing "World in Conflict" and getting ideas...
sudo eat my shorts
Have a look at this video explanation.
... about 20 years ago, over Syktyvkar, Russia.
That was clearly a rocket (I saw rocket launches before, living downrange of Plesetsk), but at some point the thing has "stopped" in the sky and started rolling out a spiral. The rotating object and the spiral quickly faded away, but the gaseous afterglow along the ascent trajectory remained, as it usually does.
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.