Russia has been hit by a
wave of reports of a giant UFO in the sky last night with spectacular pictures
of an enormous glowing ball illuminating northern Siberia. Social media erupted
with claims of 'aliens arriving' and locals in far flung parts of the country
told of 'shivers down their spines'.
While the source of the
light remains unclear, some have suggested that it was the the trace of a
rocket launched by the Russian military that caused this extraordinary
phenomenon in the night sky.
Vasily Zubkov posted: 'I
went out to smoke a cigarette and thought it was the end of the world.'
The extraordinary scenes
were captured by leading Siberian photographer Sergey Anisimov in the town of
Salekhard which straddles the Arctic Circle.
'I was taken aback for a
few minutes, not understanding what was happening,' he said.’ The glowing ball
rose from behind the trees and moved in my direction. My first thought was
about the most powerful searchlight, but the speed of changing everything
around changed the idea of what was happening. The ball began to turn into an
arc and gradually dissipated.'
After the multi-coloured
light show was over he went home to find local children as young as five in the
yard babbling about 'aliens' and 'the portal to another dimension', he said.
Some 520 miles further
east, another photographer Alexey Yakovlev admitted to feeling scared as he
witnessed the UFO spectacle at Strezhevoi, in the north of Tomsk region,
reported The Siberian Times.
'At first I thought - it is
such a radiance of such an unusual form, round in shape. But gradually the ball
began to expand, it became clear that this is not some radiance and it became
scary. It's good that I was not alone....a group of people cannot hallucinate.'
On social media, Anastasia Boldyreva posted simply: 'Aliens arrived.'
The were many similar
messages. Nurgazy Taabaldiev claimed: 'It's a gap in the space-time continuum.'
While the source of the
light has not been confirmed, not all are convinced it was a Russian rocket
test.
Some local experts suggest
it may have been caused by the Northern lights.
But the most common theory
is that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin had chosen this moment to frighten the
West with grandiose military exercises by his strategic nuclear forces.
Putin personally oversaw
the launch of four nuclear-capable ballistic missiles as part of a training
exercise for Russia's strategic nuclear forces, the Kremlin said on Friday, the
Interfax news agency reported.
The test launches,
conducted last night, involved land, air, and submarine-based ballistic
missiles, Russia's defence ministry said in a separate statement.
The ministry said a Topol
intercontinental ballistic missile had been test fired from the Plesetsk
cosmodrome in northern Russia, hitting a target at the Kura military testing
range on the Kamchatka Peninsula thousands of kilometres (miles) away.
It was the likely the
traces of one of these rockets - capable of carrying nuclear missiles - that
caused this extraordinary phenomenon in the night sky, say the Russian media. As
photographer Mr Yakovlev accurately guessed: 'It seems I accidentally shot the
launch of a secret space rocket from Plesetsk'.
Nigel Watson, author of the
UFO Manual, told MailOnline: 'This looks amazing and it is not surprising the
sight of it caused witnesses to think of aliens and the opening of a portal to
another dimension.
'These fantastic
possibilities are shot down by the prosaic explanation that this strange light
phenomena was caused by the testing of an intercontinental missile.
'This seems like a poor
explanation for something so spectacular but other rocket launches have caused
similar spectacles. 'In particular, in December
2009 a stunning spiralling light was seen over Norway, which was caused by a
failed Russian missile test.
'They may not be of an
alien origin but we can certainly admire their beauty, even if they are caused
by weapons of mass destruction.' A similar light was seen in
the skies over Norway in December 2009, which was caused by a failed missile
launch.
Speaking to Barents
Observer at the time, Dr Truls Lynne Hansen, a researcher at the Tromso
Geophysical Observatory, said: 'The missile has probably come out of control
and exploded.
'The peculiar spiral shaped
light pattern comes from reflection of the sun in the leaking fuel.'
Via Dailymail