The Petrozavodsk phenomenon was a series of celestial events of a disputed nature that occurred on 20 September 1977. The sightings were reported over a vast territory, from
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
and
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
in the west to
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...
in the east.
It is named after the city of
Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...
in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, where a glowing object was widely reported that showered the city with numerous rays.
Government officials from northern European countries sent letters to
Anatoly Aleksandrov, president of the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
, expressing concern about whether the observed phenomenon was caused by Soviet weapons testing and whether it constituted a threat to the region's environment.
Since 1977,
the phenomenon has been often, though not universally, attributed to the launch of the Soviet
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...
''
Kosmos-955''. In the same year, a preliminary report for the Academy of Sciences of the USSR was made, containing a large body of visual observations,
radiolocation reports, physical measurements, and accompanying
meteorological data. It concluded that "based on the available data, it is unfeasible to satisfactorily understand the observed phenomenon".
The Petrozavodsk phenomenon contributed to the creation of
Setka AN, a Soviet research program for anomalous atmospheric phenomena.
Name
In the early Soviet reports the Petrozavodsk phenomenon was referred to as the ''phenomenon of 20 September 1977''.
Later it became known as the ''Petrozavodsk phenomenon''. Sometimes it is also called the ''Petrozavodsk incident''
or the Petrozavodsk miracle.
The phrase "
unidentified flying object
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...
" in the Soviet Union was substituted by the term "anomalous phenomenon" for research purposes.
Sightings
Most sightings occurred between 1:00 and 1:20 am
UTC, when at least 48 unidentified objects reportedly appeared in the atmosphere. Several sightings occurred before, at 1:00 am local time over
Medvezhyegorsk
Medvezhyegorsk (russian: Медвежьего́рск; krl, Karhumägi; fi, Karhumäki) is a town and the administrative center of Medvezhyegorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Population: 15,800 (1959).
History
A village in ...
, at 2:30 am over
Loukhi
Loukhi (russian: Лоухи; krl, Louhi) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Loukhsky District in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located on the shore of Lake Panovo, north of Petrozavodsk, the ...
and at 3:00 am over
Kovdor
Kovdor (russian: Ковдор, fi, Koutero) is a town and the administrative center of Kovdorsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, mostly known for its mining industry. Population:
History
By 1965, Kovdor was a work settlement in the distr ...
and
Palanga
Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea.
Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...
(Lithuania).
From approximately 3:00 to 3:25 am an unidentified luminous object was observed by the supervising personnel of the Leningrad maritime trade port.
At 3:30 am a flying object, surrounded by a luminous coat, was reportedly seen by the crew of the Soviet fishing vessel ''Primorsk'', which was departing from the
Primorsk harbour.
The object appeared to move noiselessly from the east, and near Primorsk it abruptly changed its direction to north.
In
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
, Finland, the sightings of a glowing ball were reported by newspapers ''
Ilta-Sanomat'' on 20 September and ''
Kansan Uutiset
''Kansan Uutiset'' ( Finnish: "People's News") is a Finnish language weekly newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. It is the party organ of the Left Alliance.
History and profile
''Kansan Uutiset'' was founded in 1957 as the joint organ of C ...
'' the next day. The ball was observed by many residents, including taxi drivers, police functionaries and
Helsinki Airport
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. ...
personnel.
An unidentified object was also observed near
Turku
Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
by two men. At the distance of 300 m they spotted a spinning object similar to a lifebuoy, 10 m in diameter.
This claim was contested by Pekka Teerikorpi from
Tuorla Observatory
Tuorla Observatory is the Department of Astronomy at the University of Turku, southwest Finland. It is the largest astronomical research institute in Finland. Together with the Space Research Laboratory at the Physics Department of the University ...
. Arguing that the entire phenomenon was caused by ''
Kosmos-955'', Teerikorpi believed that the actual distance was "many hundreds of kilometres" and that "such reports probably are due to the well-known fact that it is difficult to estimate distances of unfamiliar phenomena". ''Ilta-Sanomat'' also reported a sighting of a glowing object in Denmark, over
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, by the pilots of a Finnish airline aircraft flying from Rome.
The glowing objects were also observed in various places in the Soviet Union, mostly in the northwest. The appearance of an unidentified object over Helsinki reportedly caused heavy radio traffic in Soviet territory.
In the European part of the Soviet Union "bright, luminous bodies surrounded by extended shells and emitting light rays or jets of quaint shapes" were reported.
The "shells" reportedly "transformed and diffused within 10 to 15 minutes", while "a more long-lived, stable glow was observed, mostly in the northeastern part of the sky".
The eyewitnesses included paramedics, on-duty ''
militsiya'' functionaries, seamen and the longshoremen at Petrozavodsk's port, members of the military, local airport staff and an amateur astronomer.
The phenomenon was also observed by the members of the
IZMIRAN
The Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN, russian: Институт земного магнетизма, ионосферы и распространения р ...
geophysical
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' some ...
expedition near
Lekhta.
In
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, then Leningrad, the sighting of an unidentified object was reported by three night shift employees of
Pulkovo Airport, including
air traffic controller
Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...
B. Blagirev. According to Blagirev, he spotted a fireball-like object slightly larger than
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
at 3:55 am in the north-north-east at an
azimuth
An azimuth (; from ar, اَلسُّمُوت, as-sumūt, the directions) is an angular measurement in a spherical coordinate system. More specifically, it is the horizontal angle from a cardinal direction, most commonly north.
Mathematical ...
of 10°.
The object was surrounded by a spacious, rhythmically glowing coat with intricate structure and "the observed phenomenon had nothing similar to
aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
".
The object moved ascendantly to the observer, to the south-south-west, then it changed direction to north-north-west and eventually disappeared.
All three airport employees failed to identify what they saw.
Further reports in the Soviet Union came from
Primorsk (two eyewitnesses),
Petrodvorets (one eyewitness),
Lomonosov (three eyewitnesses),
Podporozhye (three eyewitnesses),
Polovina (one eyewitness),
Leppäsyrjä (one eyewitness),
Kem (several eyewitnesses),
Põltsamaa
Põltsamaa (german: Oberpahlen) is a town in Põltsamaa Parish, Jõgeva County, Estonia. The town is situated on the Põltsamaa River, and features a 13th-century castle.
Gallery
Põltsamaa Jõgi.jpg, Põltsamaa River
Põltsamaa Vabadussõja ...
,
Liiva,
Priozersk
Priozersk (russian: Приозе́рск; fi, Käkisalmi; sv, Kexholm) is a town and the administrative center of Priozersky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the northwestern shore of Lake Ladoga, at the estuary of the northern ...
,
Kestenga
Kestenga (russian: Кестеньга; krl, Kiestinki; fi, Kiestinki), is a rural village in the Loukhsky District of the Republic of Karelia in Russia on the northern shore of Lake Topozero.
It is the administrative centre of the ''Kestenga r ...
,
Valday and other places.
Many reports were accompanied by drawings from eyewitnesses. By 30 December 1978, the Soviet researchers collected a total of 85 reports on the Petrozavodsk phenomenon.
In the settlement of
Kurkijoki a luminous object was seen by engineer A. Novozhilov, who compared it to an
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
. He reported the sighting to the
candidate of technical sciences, Konstantin Polevitsky, who recorded it. Initially Novozhilov saw what he thought to be a
meteor
A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space.
Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mi ...
.
After some time the object had stopped and then moved towards Novozhilov, quickly increasing in size and acquiring the well-outlined shape of an airship.
The object was faceted and tipped with brightly shining spots on front and back. The edges were glowing with white light, which was slightly fainter than the spots.
The facets resembled windows lit from inside and were evenly glowing with a white light that was fainter than that of the edges.
The object reportedly moved at an altitude of 300–500 m, being 100 m long and 12–15 m in diameter.
Still approaching Novozhilov, the object, moving from west to east, had released a brightly shining ball from the rear, which flew north. The ball was flying horizontally and then descended behind a forest. The landing reportedly caused the appearance of a bright glow.
At 4:15 am. Novozhilov took three unsuccessful photos of the sighting with a 0.1 sec exposure.
The object was "much larger than moon" and moved with the speed of a helicopter.
The observation lasted 10–15 minutes in complete silence.
Another detailed account of one unidentified object was given by Soviet writer and philosopher
Yuri Linnik
Yuri Vladimirovich Linnik (russian: Ю́рий Влади́мирович Ли́нник; January 8, 1915 – June 30, 1972) was a Soviet mathematician active in number theory, probability theory and mathematical statistics.
Linnik was born in B ...
. He observed the object at his
dacha
A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...
near
Namoyevo at about 3:00 am through an amateur telescope with an 80× magnification. The lens-like object, surrounded by a dim, translucent ring, had a color of a "dark
amethyst, intensively lightened from inside".
The edges of the lens-like object had 16 spots (described by Linnik as "nozzles"
) which emitted pulsating red rays at an angle of 10°–15°.
The
angular size
The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...
of the object was estimated at 20
arcminutes.
The object passed near the stars
Gamma Geminorum
Gamma Geminorum (γ Geminorum, abbreviated Gamma Gem, γ Gem), formally named Alhena , is the third-brightest object in the constellation of Gemini. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 1.9, making it easily visible to the naked eye ...
,
Eta Geminorum,
Capella
Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the sixth-brightest star in ...
,
172 Camelopardalis,
50 Cassiopeiae,
Gamma Cephei
Gamma Cephei (γ Cephei, abbreviated Gamma Cep, γ Cep) is a binary star system approximately 45 light-years away in the constellation of Cepheus. The primary (designated Gamma Cephei A, officially named Errai , the traditional name of ...
,
Psi Draconis The Bayer designation Psi Draconis (ψ Dra / ψ Draconis) is shared by two star systems, in the constellation Draco
Draco is the Latin word for serpent or dragon.
Draco or Drako may also refer to:
People
* Draco (lawgiver) (from Greek: Δρ ...
,
16 Draconis
Sixteen or 16 may refer to:
*16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17
*one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016
Films
* ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film
* Sixteen (1943 film), ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 194 ...
,
Psi Herculis,
Kappa Coronae Borealis
Kappa Coronae Borealis, Latinized from κ Coronae Borealis, is a star approximately 98 light years away in the constellation of Corona Borealis. The apparent magnitude is +4.82 (4.17 trillion times fainter than the Sun) and the absolu ...
and
Delta Coronae Borealis.
The object stopped near Gamma Cephei at an azimuth of 220°.
Near Kappa Coronae Borealis, at an azimuth of 340°–350°, the object changed its direction to 30°–35° west.
It finally disappeared in the north at an azimuth of 340°. The duration of the flight was 15 minutes.
Apart from ground observations, there were also reports from several aircraft. The crew of a
Tu-154
The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...
spotted a luminous spherical object at an altitude of 12 km.
A bright, luminous object was also observed for a half an hour by Georgian writer
Guram Pandzhikidze and other passengers of an aircraft returning from
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
at an altitude of 11 km,
at about 4:30 or 5:00 am. Pandzhikidze reported the sighting on 2 October to the director of the
Karelian Hydrometeorological Observatory Yuri Gromov, who verified the report's copy.
Petrozavodsk object
At the time Petrozavodsk was the capital and a major industrial hub of the
Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ( rus, Каре́льская Автоно́мная Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, r=Karelskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respub ...
, with a population of 203,000 in 1974. The earliest published report of the Petrozavodsk phenomenon was written by
TASS
The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...
correspondent Nikolai Milov, who described the unidentified object over Petrozavodsk as "a huge star", that "flared up in the dark sky" at about 4:00 am
local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
, "impulsively sending shafts of light to the Earth".
Milov's report was published in the mainstream Soviet press (''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...
'', ''
Izvestiya
''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes i ...
'', ''
Selskaya Zhizn'', and ''
Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya''). A local newspaper, ''Leninskaya Pravda'', also reported the Petrozavodsk object. The preliminary data analysis by the
Academy of Sciences of the USSR
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
in 1977 found the eyewitness reports to be mutually consistent and complementary.
Some eyewitness accounts were attested by Yuri Gromov. According to Milov, "the star" was spreading out over Petrozavodsk in the form of a jellyfish, "showering the city with a multitude of very fine rays which created an image of pouring rain".
Milov further reported that "after some time the luminescent rays ceased" and "the jellyfish turned into a bright semicircle", which resumed its movement towards
Onega Lake
Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Rep ...
.
The object, surrounded by a translucent coat, was initially spotted at about 4:00 am in the northeastern part of the sky below
Ursa Major
Ursa Major (; also known as the Great Bear) is a constellation in the northern sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear," referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa ...
at an azimuth of about 40°.
The initial brightness of the object was "apparently comparable to that of Venus".
The object moved ascendantly towards Ursa Major. The
course angle as determined by former pilot and eyewitness V. Barkhatov was 240°.
As the object ascended, it was expanding and pulsating,
but a decrease in brightness was not noted. The object moved slowly for about three minutes.
Shortly before the object stopped it dispersed a bright "cloud". The cloud was round or oval in shape.
Its maximum angular size was larger than that of Ursa Major, about 30° in diameter.
The altitude of the object during the formation of the "cloud" was estimated at 7.5±0.4 km (based on eyewitnesses' observations) or at 6.0±0.5 km, based on
parallax.
The linear diameter of the object's core was estimated either at 119 or at about 60 m.
The diameter of the object's jellyfish-like cupola was estimated by
Felix Ziegel at about 105 m, based on the drawing of eyewitness Andrei Akimov.
The object itself was red in color and emitted a bluish white glow.
The lighting of the area was compared to that from a full moon.
According to eyewitness V. Trubachev, "the ground was lightened like in the white night".
The glowing "cloud" then developed a dark spot around the central core. The spot quickly expanded while the glow was fading away.
The object hovered over Petrozavodsk for five minutes and then moved away. Before hovering, the object moved slowly, with the
angular velocity of a passenger aircraft.
After the hovering its speed had increased. One eyewitness noted that the object's underside resembled a
Segner wheel.
The entire phenomenon lasted 10–15 minutes.
The Petrozavodsk object was also seen in adjacent places, such as Pryazha. In 1978, ''
Tekhnika i Nauka'' published a color reconstruction of various stages of the object.
In November 1977, clinical psychologist Y. Andreyeva evaluated the mental condition of nine eyewitnesses of the Petrozavodsk phenomenon. She concluded that "one can be confident of complete mental sanity of the eyewitnesses and the veracity of their answers and testimonies". Nonetheless, several reports noted some impact of the phenomenon on humans and environment. According to A. Grakov, who observed a glowing yellow ball the size of the moon, the air above the lake in Petrozavodsk glowed with white light after the ball had disappeared.
The glow was more intense than that from Petrozavodsk's lights.
According to
Yuri Linnik
Yuri Vladimirovich Linnik (russian: Ю́рий Влади́мирович Ли́нник; January 8, 1915 – June 30, 1972) was a Soviet mathematician active in number theory, probability theory and mathematical statistics.
Linnik was born in B ...
, after 20 September 1977 there was increased biological activity in the areas where the phenomenon was observed. Noting that that increase might not be related to the Petrozavodsk phenomenon, Linnik nonetheless reported the blooming of roses in his garden and the second bloom of "about 10 species of
herbaceous plant
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent wood, woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennial plant, perennials, and nearly all Annual plant, annuals and Biennial plant, biennials.
Definition ...
s".
Linnik called it "extraordinary for Karelia's latitude" because "after the autumn equinox the vegetation of herbs almost ceases".
He further emphasized the intense bloom of the water in
Ukshozero, caused by ''
Ankistrodesmus'', shortly after 20 September.
Some impact on technical devices was also noted when the engineers in the Petrozavodsk area reportedly observed "huge failures" in computing devices, which then regained normal performance.
Instrumental detection
The unidentified objects over the airports of Helsinki,
Pulkovo Pulkovo may refer to:
*Pulkovo Heights marking the southern limit of Saint Petersburg, Russia
*Pulkovo Airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia
*Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise
Pulkovo Federal State Unified Aviation Service Company (ФГУАП “ ...
and
Peski were not detected by the airport
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
s.
Although according to
UPI
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...
the object was detected by the Helsinki airport radar, the airport's traffic controller Ari Hämäläinen claimed it was not.
The objects were not spotted by the Soviet
air defense system
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes Surface-to-air m ...
either.
Later, however, the glowing objects were reportedly detected by the
weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly pulse- ...
of Karelian Hydrometeorological Observatory in Petrozavodsk on 30 September at 5:40 pm, 20 October at 11:30 pm and 20 November at 2:14–2:17 am.
Soviet investigation
![USSR Academy of Sciences sheet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/USSR_Academy_of_Sciences_sheet.jpg)
The initial analysis of the phenomenon was made by the research fellow of
Sternberg Astronomical Institute
The Sternberg Astronomical Institute (Государственный астрономический институт имени Штернберга in Russian), also known as GAISh (ГАИШ), is a research institution in Moscow, Russia, a divisi ...
Lev Gindilis using various testimonies and
meteorological data available by 30 September 1977. He wrote that the passage of one object at a reasonably high altitude, which allows simultaneous observations from all reported locations, is plausible at a flight altitude of 100 km or more.
Gindilis noted that in that case "the minimal linear dimensions of the bright spherical object should be about 1 kilometer, while the diameter of the coat – several tens of kilometers".
Considering the launch of ''
Kosmos-955'' as the possible cause, Gindilis outlined several obstacles, such as the westward motion of the unidentified object (while ''Kosmos-955'' was launched to the north-east), the observed
angular size
The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular distance describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences, it is called the visual angle, and in optics, it is ...
s of it combined with the expected distance and prolonged hanging over
Leppäsyrjä.
On 8 October 1977 a
Sortavala
Sortavala (russian: Сортавала; Finnish and krl, Sortavala; sv, Sordavala); till 1918 Serdobol (russian: Сердоболь) is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish bor ...
newspaper ''Krasnoye Znamya'' published a report from a local hydrometeostation, which further confirmed that the Petrozavodsk object moved from northeast to southwest. The suggestion about ''Kosmos-955'' was also criticized by
Felix Ziegel, who noted that the space vehicles are launched eastwards, in the direction of
Earth's rotation.
Further in 1977, a
For Official Use Only
For Official Use Only (FOUO) is an information security designation used by some governments.
United States
Among U.S. government information, FOUO was primarily used by the U.S. Department of Defense as a handling instruction for Con ...
preliminary report on the Petrozavodsk phenomenon was prepared by Gindilis,
MEPI engineer-physicist D. Menkov and I. Petrovskaya. It used various data available by 20 October, but the findings were inconclusive. Assuming that "the extent of phenomenon is apparently too big to be explained by technical experiments on satellite orbits", the report conjectured "a possible influence of some cosmic agent".
The report was used at the dedicated meeting on the Petrozavodsk phenomenon, arranged on 1 November 1977 at the Institute of Space Studies of the
Soviet Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
(now
Russian Space Research Institute
The Russian Space Research Institute (russian: Институт космических исследований Российской академии наук, Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, SRI RAS, Russian abbrevia ...
). The findings were also inconclusive.
On 2 January 1978, the vice president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences,
Vladimir Kotelnikov, signed a note to the Karelian Department of the Academy, informing them about the dispatch of an expert group to study the phenomenon
in situ
''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...
. There, relying on eyewitnesses' testimonies, the employee of Petrozavodsk University Y. Mezentsev conducted
theodolite
A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building an ...
measurements to determine the approximate location of the unidentified object over Petrozavodsk. In the end of January 1978 the Soviet researchers compiled an appendix to the 1977 preliminary report, which contained updated data on the phenomenon. The appendix further emphasized that the sightings of unidentified objects elsewhere were reported before the launch of ''Kosmos-955''.
One copy of the report was received by the French research group
GEPAN
GEIPAN (an acronym for ''Groupe d'Études et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés'', or unidentified aerospace phenomenon research and information group). (), its name since September 2005. (The group was formerly know ...
.
The copy was subsequently forwarded to
CUFOS
The Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) is a privately funded UFO research group. The group was founded in 1973 by J. Allen Hynek, who at the time was chair of the Department of Astronomy at Northwestern University in Illinois.Franch John, ''The Secret ...
in
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...
in the United States.
J. Allen Hynek presented another copy to
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
scientist Richard Haines, who then translated the copy to English on a government grant.
The Soviet report was met with a mixed reception abroad. Haines, Hynek and others publicly claimed that the report was the key evidence for the existence of
unidentified flying object
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...
s.
James Oberg
James Edward Oberg (born November 7, 1944) is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian and Chinese space programs. He had a 22-year career as a space engineer in NASA specializing in orbital rendezvous. Ob ...
criticised the Soviet investigation, regarding it as "a ruse, possibly another Soviet attempt to divert attention from the truth about Soviet UFOs".
Proposed explanations
![TASS on Kosmos-955](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/TASS_on_Kosmos-955.jpg)
Several proposals to explain the nature of the phenomenon have been argued. The director of the
Pulkovo Observatory
The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...
Vladimir Krat initially thought that the phenomenon was caused by the fall of a
meteorite.
Later in public speeches, he attributed the phenomenon to
aurorae.
This view was supported by the director of
IZMIRAN
The Pushkov Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IZMIRAN, russian: Институт земного магнетизма, ионосферы и распространения р ...
Vladimir Migulin, whose conjecture was published in the newspaper ''
Sovetskaya Rossiya'' on 19 April 1980. Migulin's explanation was rejected by
Felix Ziegel, who noted that aurorae cannot occur at an altitude lower than 100 km and that their
surface brightness
In astronomy, surface brightness (SB) quantifies the apparent brightness or flux density per unit angular area of a spatially extended object such as a galaxy or nebula, or of the night sky background. An object's surface brightness depends on it ...
is low, being incomparable to that of the Petrozavodsk object.
Later, Migulin suggested that the phenomenon occurred "due to a rare concourse of various circumstances, that is the launch of the satellite ''
Kosmos-955'', the strong magnetic perturbation due to
solar flare
A solar flare is an intense localized eruption of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, and other sol ...
and our scientific experiment of influencing the
ionosphere with low frequency
radio waves".
In the interview, published in 1977 by ''
Kansan Uutiset
''Kansan Uutiset'' ( Finnish: "People's News") is a Finnish language weekly newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. It is the party organ of the Left Alliance.
History and profile
''Kansan Uutiset'' was founded in 1957 as the joint organ of C ...
'' and ''
Uusi Suomi
''Uusi Suomi'' ( Finnish for ''The New Finland'') was a Finnish daily newspaper that was published from 1919 to 1991. The headquarters was in Helsinki, Finland.
History and profile
''Uusi Suomi'' was established in 1919 as a continuation of tw ...
'', the employee of
Nurmijärvi
Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...
geophysical observatory Matti Kivinen assumed that an unidentified object over Finland could be the remnant of a
launch vehicle
A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload ( spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and ...
or
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...
.
James Oberg
James Edward Oberg (born November 7, 1944) is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian and Chinese space programs. He had a 22-year career as a space engineer in NASA specializing in orbital rendezvous. Ob ...
attributed the Petrozavodsk object to the launch of the Soviet satellite ''Kosmos-955'' from
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome ( rus, Космодром «Плесецк», r=Kosmodrom "Plesetsk", p=kəsmɐˈdrom plʲɪˈsʲet͡sk) is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 ...
, which took place on 20 September at about 3:58 local time.
According to James Oberg, because ''Kosmos-955'' was launched in the north-eastern direction, the residents of Petrozavodsk (located to the south-west from Plesetsk) observed the blaze trail from the satellite's nozzles, which caused the phenomenon.
Oberg's view was endorsed, particularly by the IZMIRAN fellow Yuli Platov in 1984. According to Platov, the appearance of a shining spot was associated with the flare of the satellite's engine.
The formation of an extended glowing area reportedly coincided with the satellite's leaving the
Earth's shadow.
Similar phenomena (given the name "
space jellyfish
A space jellyfish (or ''jellyfish UFO''; also ''rocket jellyfish'') is a rocket launch-related phenomenon caused by sunlight reflecting off the high altitude rocket plume gases emitted by a launching rocket during morning or evening twilight. The ...
") following the launch of satellites near dawn or dusk have been reported multiple times since the Petrozavodsk incident. Platov further linked the development of the radiant structure to the passage of ''Kosmos-955'' through the
turbopause
The turbopause, also known as the homopause, marks the altitude in an atmosphere below which turbulent mixing dominates. Mathematically, it is defined as the point where the coefficient of Eddy diffusion is equal to the coefficient of molecular d ...
boundary, "above which the scattering of combustion products occurs without the damping effect of the atmosphere".
In 1985, Platov's view was published by Soviet magazine ''
Nauka v SSSR''.
In a later article, Platov noted that "a number of additional effects, that accompanied the Petrozavodsk phenomenon, was associated with the unsuccessful
test launch of a
ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...
, that was conducted in the same region almost at the same time". Nonetheless, since the inconclusive Soviet investigation, the ''Kosmos-955'' argument remains contested. Referring to his 18-year service experience at
Kapustin Yar
Kapustin Yar (russian: Капустин Яр) is a Russian rocket launch complex in Astrakhan Oblast, about 100 km east of Volgograd. It was established by the Soviet Union on 13 May 1946. In the beginning, Kapustin Yar used technology, material ...
site, Ukrainian researcher Oleh Pruss said: "I know firsthand, what a spectacle in the sky occurs during the rocket launches – it's quite an impressive view. However, there was something completely different over Petrozavodsk".
In 1978, ''
Aviatsiya i Kosmonavtika'' published an article "'Flashes' in the Atmosphere" by M. Dmitriyev, where a
chemiluminescence hypothesis was put forward. According to Dmitriyev, the phenomenon was "neither the result of technical experiments nor a
mirage", but a chemiluminescent area in the atmosphere.
Concerning that hypothesis, Ziegel wrote that "the energy output of chemiluminescence is negligible", unlike that of the Petrozavodsk object, and that the conjectured chemiluminescent clouds cannot soar against the wind, which the Petrozavodsk object appeared to do.
See also
*
2009 Norwegian spiral anomaly
The Norwegian spiral anomaly of 2009 ( no, spiralformede lysmønsteret, "spiral-form light pattern", ''spiralformede lysfenomenet'', "spiral-form light phenomenon") appeared in the night sky over Norway. It was visible from, and photographed from ...
Note
References
{{UFOs
1977 in the Soviet Union
Phenomenon
A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried ...
September 1977 events in Europe
UFO sightings