Test of the Russian military caused the unusual Northern lights in Scandinavia

9 December 2009 observers of the night sky in the Arctic Norway have witnessed an incredible phenomenon — a cone-shaped spiral blue light. "We used to see here in Norway, many Northern lights. However, this time it looked different," says Nick Banbury of Harstad, who at that time between 7:50 and 8:00 local time and went to work. The author of this photo Jan Petter jørgensen.

A few days later the Russian defense Ministry confirmed the launch and subsequent crash of an Intercontinental ballistic missile "Bulava" from a Russian submarine in the White sea. That is a rocket engine out of control, has created this spiral pattern in the sky.

Almost eight years later, October 26, 2017, on the sky appeared the edge of the blue glow. However, this time formed the shape of an expanding sphere. The author of this impressive photo — Alex Yakovlev from the Russian city of Swan.

If you look at the sequence of pictures Yakovlev in the social network, we can see that the cloud enters the atmosphere. Wind at high altitude azure picked up the gas and moved it to Scandinavia. So, in Sweden and Norway it was possible to observe the rare blue Northern lights.

This time the reason it is also associated with military exercises. 26 October, the Russian military staged a nuclear test and launched several ballistic missiles from land, sea and air. At this time, that glow could cause the missile "Topol" was launched, as reported from the spaceport in Plesetsk near the testing ground of the Kura in Kamchatka. The path of its flight and hit the lens Yakovlev. It is also known that in September this year in Russia was launched the same type of missile that caused the appearance of the sky the same unusual clouds.

The reason for this blue glow is unknown. Presumably, it is the result of a chemical reaction in the atmosphere when air molecules mixed with elements of rocket fuel.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»