Petrozavodsk phenomenon
- Date
- 20 Sep 1977
- Place
- Petrozavodsk, Karelia, Russia (reports from Copenhagen and Helsinki eastwards)
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Explained
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Before dawn on 20 September 1977 residents of Petrozavodsk and many places across the northwestern Soviet Union, Finland and beyond saw a glowing object that spread into a jellyfish-like shape sending fine rays toward the ground, then became a bright semicircle. A TASS report by Nikolai Milov ran in Pravda and Izvestiya, and the Academy of Sciences' preliminary report said the phenomenon could not yet be satisfactorily understood; the case led to the Setka research programme on anomalous atmospheric phenomena. James Oberg showed that it coincided with the launch of Kosmos-955 from Plesetsk, whose exhaust lit by the sun at high altitude matches the descriptions.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
USSR Academy of Sciences preliminary report: not satisfactorily understood
Strongest ordinary reading
The launch of Kosmos-955 from Plesetsk, its sunlit exhaust seen at altitude (Oberg)
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- Yes: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- Yes: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- Yes: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
- Wikipedia: Petrozavodsk phenomenonen.wikipedia.org
On the map
61.79° N, 34.36° E, plotted at the town or city
Show on the map