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Subscribe to RSSThey predicted that a UFO would appear in the skies over Russia on Wednesday night — and sure enough, they were right. In this case, however, "they" weren't flying-saucer fans or doomsday soothsayers, but rather military space experts who knew that the scheduled launch of Russia's Meridian 4 military communication satellite would put on a show.
The Soyuz rocket's successful liftoff from northern Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome was followed by the separation of strap-on boosters and the Fregat upper stage, producing the magnificent light show you can see in the Russia Today video above. In another YouTube video, observers marvel at the scene and ask "What's that!?" (in Russian). More videos can be seen here, and here, and especially here. Don't miss this sequence of images tracing each step of the ascent.
It's reminiscent of the UFO flap that followed the sighting of a bright spiral in the skies over Norway in December 2009. In that case, it took a day or two for the Russians to acknowledge that the display was caused by the failure of a submarine-based missile launch. This time, everyone knew it was coming ... and still it was a marvelous, mysterious sight.
Update for 4:30 p.m. ET May 6: Here's a huge tip o' the Log to NBC News space analyst James Oberg, who totally predicted this week's Russian UFO reports. In an email, Oberg explains why such reports are important:
"The value of rocket/space pseudo-UFOs is not that they 'solve' a set percentage of reports, but that they provide unique 'control experiments' in unambiguously calibrating eyewitness perceptions compared to what we know the visual apparition actually looked like, since there's no longer any doubt what the witnesses were looking at in these cases, from which they generated their later descriptions. The lessons that this category of reports can teach ufology could be paradigm-overturning, but as far as I can tell, even serious students of the phenomenon don't want to pursue this line of investigation, perhaps out of concern over the implications of the likely conclusions on the reliability of other reports."
More about UFO sightings:
- UFO battles on video? Not likely, expert says
- Gallery: UFO cases that generate buzz
- British UFO files trace sightings (and hoaxes)
- What to do if you see a UFO
You can join the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Bunch of communist. Pss.
Their not communist, where have you been in the last 21 years?
Yea i gotta agree, wtf, communist? Russia is now just straight corrupt, but they are without a doubt a capitalist country now.
Yo Barstowbob, if you're gonna complain, at least spell "they're" correctly. Where have you been the last 21 years?
Real smooth KeithStone. We all love complaints about spelling in the comments section for an article about what people think is a UFO but is really a satellite launch. You might as well complain about the "wtf" or the lower case "i" or the use of the word "gonna" or "gotta" or "yo" for that matter.
Ever ting gots ta bee spelt rite!
sammy-3347162
Hey genius, the U.S. is more of a communist nation than they are.
RE : Paul-3031266:
Its true Russia is not communist any more. It’s more like a
mixed economy with a blend of socialism and capitalism. No different than the
USA. USA claims to be the Mecca of capitalism but when you look at the U.S Gov
policies you realize it’s far from being a capitalist nation. They bail their
corporation out with federal aid when they are going out of business. That’s not
a Capitalist model, that’s a very socialist approach to economy. Lot of commodities
like Fuel are given Gov subsidies and that too is not a capitalist model.
As far as corruption goes, USA is no better than Russia,
look at all the wars, defense contracts and you get the picture. The only
difference is in the US it’s at a very high level and very high tech. You don’t
see an average Joe taking a bribe on the street. It’s more in the form of Wall
Street Crooks in $1000 suits and tie looting the national wealth and running
the nation into a ditch!
Well said Cap'n A, well said.
Slang is a little different than directly using the wrong word. Otherwise, I agree with mob's point.
They are just a regular socialist country, now. You know... social health care, retirement.... you know, the basics. HOWEVER, unlike MOST socialist countries, they have MASSIVE corruption and no democracy.
They will say anything to debunk UFO's, they are so scared that they are real they just can't handel it!
To think we are the only life forms in this galaxy is crazy, there are probly life forms millions of years
older than earth!
silverstrk, I think that almost everyone will acknowledge that there are aliens alive on Earth today. I really think that I have seen several of them. Unfortunatly I can't speak Mexican.
"To think we are the only life forms in this galaxy is crazy, there are probly life forms millions of years older than earth!"
Of course, maybe its because this really was a Russian rocket launch. The default position of the vast majority of UFO proponents seems to be that just because there might be ETIs well in advance of us out there, seems to automatically mean they can and do visit here regularly. And as such, the statement is an example of the usual assumptions about people who are skeptical of UFOs as ET visitations.
Just because there are exoplanets out there, does not automatically mean they have ETs
advanced enough to visit Earth or that any ETs who are capable of interstellar travel, automatically can reach earth. Three basic possibilities exist IMO.
1) Earth is the only life bearing planet in the entire Universe. While this is highly highly
unlikely...it is still a possiblity because we have not been able to prove otherwise. The view
that this position is "Arrogant humanity" has nothing to do with it. It either is, or is not
the situation. If it is, it may be that Earth is the only life bearing planet because it is
the first planet to be life bearing. Ironically, if it is the only life bearing planet in
the Universe, we will never know that because it would be virtually impossible for
humanity to explore every facet of the Universe in place or time. Once again, I
cannot emphasize enough that this scenario is very unlikely.
2) There are Human Level Intelligences (HLI) but they are rare. Perhaps as rare as one
interstellar travel capable species per galaxy or thereabouts. This could explain the so
called Fermi paradox. Of course, UFO proponents do not subscribe to the Fermi paradox.
The irony in this position? HLIs would be common even if there were only one HLI
species per ten thousand galaxies given the billions of galaxies out there!
3) HLI's whether rare or common, are visiting earth and have just begun visiting, or have been
visiting for quite some time and UFO proponents have been right all along.
Most folks will chose one of these three positions depending on their world view. Those such
as myself consider all three because I'm not out to debunk UFO proponents. I simply think one should consider more conventional explanations before automatically declaring ET piloted UFOs as the answer to some unexplained events. And as already mentioned, position number 1 is a virtual impossibility to prove. Because I am so far not convinced of ET visitation. This does not rule out that someday I could be convinced.
My position is that I certainly believe that ETIs are possible, and in fact...likely. I
also believe it is possible that we have been visited, but I'm not totally convinced of
UFOs as ET visitations by what I have seen of this phenomenon so far.
So funny
Hey what_the_81,
Unfortunately, you don't write english well. Perhaps you "don't" speak Spanish? If you "can't" then you are a moron. Also, I've never heard of a language called Mexican... but at least you knew to capitalize your weak attempt.
The good news is that you likely won't be abducted by aliens since you lack a high level of intelligence they most likely wouldn't be interested in you!!! LOL ;o
I think you meant to address Dave the doubter
LJ: You left out two possibilities, both based on the idea that HLIs are very common, but we simply haven't encountered them yet. That could be because a) there's a reason we don't yet know about for them to avoid contact, or b) a species shooting itself in the foot with its technology is a universal phenomenon, so they all (or a vast majority of them, at least) manage to kill themselves off before they make it to interstellar travel.
While you're correct that all options should be considered open, my gut feeling is that b) is the most likely...
You can't speak Chinese either. (Has to be Mandarin or Szechuan)
how are they gonna say that's a russian satelite? doesn't anyone remember what people saw over china? the EXACT same looking object. Now... If Russia had a satelite that close over China there is a pretty good possiblity China wouldn't like that. And who knows the action that might have been taken. But the same thing, and in China they said it was something completely different? Ironic? I think not.
Did see the other title. Kid Shoots Neo-Nazi father. The events had nothing to do with neo-nazi and mentions that was not related to the motivation. Its basically the same sleazy tactic tabloid magazines use.
What your looking at is the lift off of a rocket carrying a satelite into orbit..
Which bmiss would have known had they bothered to read the article...
They say it's a UFO in the title then tell you it's not in the article
Thats how you sell news stories. Nothing unusual about it.
The title "UFO sited in Russia... right on time" should kind of tell you it's not ACTUALLY a UFO...
I think that I have watched almost EVERY episode of "The UFO Hunters" they ever put on TV. I was so disappointed that after watching all of those in-depth investigations they never found one. After every show I would go to bed and cry my eyes out because they never once showed an episode shaking hands with one of the real "outer space" people. Sigh!
(snicker)
I liked the UFO Hunters show. They had a nice run and covered a lot of topics and important cases. Not everything pans but there's plenty that's interesting in the UFO field.
http://ufopartisan.blogspot.com/
The UFO Hunters show annoyed the hell out of me. So many times I wanted to see those "goofs" beaten and left in the desert to rot when they shadowed some supposed Top Secret facility. My favorite was when they rode mtn. bikes along the fence at Dugway in Ut. Describing what they saw as if it could possibly relate to UFO hunting. How could you call anything they did as an important case? Hang on, Swamp People is coming on.
my mustache seen it all!
Them Ruskies is gonna be the first ones to put a Bigfoot on the moon
Whats really amazing is that this UFO looks just like the one over China, The Truth Will Soon Surface.
Indeed. China launches satellites too!
Honestly, what do people THINK a nighttime rocket launch would look like? It looks like a spaceship because it IS one.
Perfect! Had to share that one with the office!
UUUUUUM, it's not a Unidentified Flying Object if you know what it is, ALAN. How did you get a job writing articles? Trying to make news out of non-news is retarded.
Well, the imagery alone made it worthy of note, in my opinion. And the event did generate a fair amount of UFO interest. Most UFO incidents, like this one, end up being IFOs. Sometimes I do marvel how I got a job writing articles, but after doing it for this long, I reckon I'll just keep it up as long as I can.
Excellent, keep sticking it to the man, and to us with the headline gimmicks whose sole purpose is to get people to click on "news". Next time try this: "Russian Satellite Launch Creates Imagery Worthy of Note" or if you'd like to spice it up a bit: "Russian Satellite Launch Creates UFO stir" I.E. honesty and integrity in journalism is greatly appreciated by those with brains but seems to be quickly going out of style in the online world. Please don't add to the "get them to click on it by any means necessary" mentality. Cause it's retarded.
Message received, thanks. Though "Russian satellite launch creates UFO stir" would be a bit too long.
Can you post the type of engines used to propel these objects into space. It is a rather uncommon looking rocket launch.
I think Alan had his tongue stuck firmly in his check when he wrote this one. And at least two fingers crossed, which makes typing a bit-h.
If anyone believes this is anything other than what Russia verifies it is than you must also believe Bin Laden isn't dead and Obama wasn't born in the USA.
And you must be one of those types who volunteer your anus for testing whenever Washington spews out nonsense.
OMG it's the Hail Bob Comet to take us all to Crabula (planet in the Crab Nebula) according to a sky watcher I know in the state hospital.
Isn't the Hale-Bopp?
Whoever designed this site: Get rid of the roll-overs. I can click what I want and you disturb the process involved here by often inadvertently taking me off this page to some other bullschibicky page.
Can we have a massive transfer: Aliens for Russian leaders?
Some folks there still havent learned the Cold War has been over for a while...Maybe a Medvedev without a Putin in the next go-round will help bring things back on an even keel. I think the Russians themselves are getting tired of all this Putin/Military-generated anti-West confrontation...
Of which this rocket is probably just one more part of...
Strange because hes very popular and not very anti-west just pro-Russian. You know kind of puts the needs of his country before other countries.
Last time I checked the "u" in ufo stood for unidentified. An object in the sky that was announced before it took flight is not unidentified. Thanks for another misleading news story media.
I regret having to inform you that... well, you are worthless Mr. Boyle. There is no journalist, no investigator, no detective... not even the remains of a curious little boy inside you, sir. All that remains is the hollowed-out shell of the discoverer, explorer and wide-eyed wonderer.
This has to be the most depressing page on this site.
Strap-on boosters......I like it!
I think it's sad to see that the United States will be doing away with their NASA program and letting it be handled by private companies, sounds a lot like what they are doing with prisons. Now Russia will have no competition to push them, like the race to the moon. It'll be sad not hearing the US in the news anymore for space break throughs, now we'll have to depend on Mother Russia to explore space
.I think that letting it be handled by private companies is a good thing. First, the funding that was going to NASA can be used elsewhere and second, giving private companies the opportunity to compete over something like this is very good for advancement in our technology and ability to travel into space. When there is competition, someone is always trying to be the best, making everyone else work harder as well.
Obviously not unidentified, crappy reporting. Sensational headline with no substance.
there is more proof of ufo's than OBL death
It's another plane bringing in plant equipment from the USA........it's called outsourcing....and to the American worker U FO.
This article is BS... the only reason it is in the popular section is because they make people think it is about a UFO...Articles that try to deceive you into reading them discust me.
You're just mad cuz it wasn't a real flying saucer
no the article is misleading. If they obviously know what it is, then why label it unidendified? they should have just put down what it really is.
Well some people didn't know what it was. I had some UFO's in my house once (Unidentified Furry Objects), turned out to be flying squirrels the cat drug in.. but I didn't know what the heck they were at first
Cmon people, "UFO" is in the title of the article because it will sell the story a
little better. Given the lack of interest evident in HSF today. Most people will not
be drawn to the story of a routine rocket launch unless you can somehow play the UFO
angle. Obviously the tactic worked in this case judging by the number of responses
here.
It's funny because they said "strap-on"
This was a poorly titled "humorous" article. It was not nor ever a "UFO." UFO means "UNidentified Flying Object." As everyone knew it was coming and what it would be, that makes it an IFO. It would be just as silly as saying "folks in Florida saw a UFO" when the space shuttle launches.
As far as the argument over life on other worlds, the odds are it exists... it doesn't mean it is not here nor does it mean it is here. Skeptics always want proof in their hands, but too many ignore any "proof" that does not fit their pre-conceived notions. Not different than we Christians "believing" Jesus was the son of God. There is no "proof," just testimony from witnesses and what people claim to be true. Skepticism is a good idea, but most modern skeptics are such hard-core disbelievers about anything, they ignore the evidence at hand. Anyone with a claim is belittled and berated. Our galaxy is a relatively new one, and many galaxies are much older and what we hold as science fact today may, in 1000 years be ignorant mythology.... our followers in the coming centuries may look on us the way we look on our ancestors, pre-Galileo.
And conversly, reasonable skeptics get lambasted just as well. As for skeptics ignoring
the evidence at hand, I have seen much of the evidence myself and while the quality of
the evidence varies...it does not get us any closer to the truth of whether ET
visitations explain this phenomenon.
You mention us skeptics ignoring "Proof in our hands". What do you consider to be proof?
How would you announce UFOs to the world with the evidence we have today? How would you say
we now have proof of UFOs as ET visitations? Would you be satisfied with the evidence we
have so far? I'm not.
UFOs really do not lend themselves to progressive study that could lead to a conclusion
as to what they really are. As you pointed out, its currently similar to Christian religious
belief except that most Christians will tell you religion is a matter of faith from the
getgo.
As for me, I consider UFOs as ET visitation currently "Inconclusive".
Its true...its true....sarah palin saw it from her front porch....just ask her!!
I would ask her, but I am too busy looking for Obama's real birth certificate in Kenya.