2009 Norwegian spiral anomaly

Map of Norway in which the light was observed in the red (Trøndelag) and blue (Northern Norway)

The Norwegian spiral anomaly of 2009 appeared in the night sky over Norway on 9 December 2009. It was visible from, and photographed from, northern Norway and Sweden. The spiral consisted of a blue beam of light with a greyish spiral emanating from one end of it. The light could be seen in all of Trøndelag to the south (the two red counties on the map to the right) and all across the three northern counties which compose Northern Norway, as well as from Northern Sweden and it lasted for 10 minutes. According to sources, it looked like a blue light coming from behind a mountain, stopping in mid-air, and starting to spiral outwards. A similar, though less spectacular event had also occurred in Norway the month before. Both events had the expected visual features of failed flights of Russian SLBM RSM-56 Bulava missiles, and the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged shortly after that such an event had taken place on 9 December.

Initial speculations

Hundreds of calls flooded the Norwegian Meteorological Institute as residents wanted to know what they were seeing. Norwegian celebrity astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard commented that he first speculated that it was a fireball meteor, but rejected that possibility because the light lasted too long. He also pointed out the area over which the light had been observed was exceptionally large, covering all of Northern Norway and Trøndelag. It was also suggested that it could have been a rare, never-before-seen Northern Lights variant.

UFO enthusiasts immediately began speculating whether the aerial light display could be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence proposing among other things that it could be a wormhole opening up, or somehow was linked to the recent high-energy experiments undertaken at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

Official Russian explanation

On 10 December 2009, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that a Bulava missile test had failed. According to a spokesman, "The missile's first two stages worked as normal, but there was a technical malfunction at the next, third, stage of the trajectory." Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer stated to AFP that "such lights and clouds appear from time to time when a missile fails in the upper layers of the atmosphere and have been reported before ... At least this failed test made some nice fireworks for the Norwegians." Prior to the Russian statement, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, had already suggested that the unusual light display occurred when the missile's third stage nozzle was damaged, causing the exhaust to come out sideways and sending the missile into a spin.

Similar events

A much-viewed, though successful missile launch event took place on 7 November 2015. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the nominal missile trajectory was visible throughout Southern California and as far away as Nevada and Arizona. Numerous eyewitness videos and pictures were circulated on the Internet. According to Navy Commander Ryan Perry, the scene was created by an unarmed Trident II (D5) missile, launched by an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine in the Pacific Test Range. Perry said launches and tests are conducted on a frequent basis "to ensure the continued reliability of the system," and that "each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities."

See also

• Hessdalen light

External links

External video
(Video of similar event that happened in China in April 2009.) (Chinese)

• Post on Russian site of official warning of a rocket test, prohibiting navigation in the area until 15 Dec.
• New Russian missile failure sparks UFO frenzyArchived 6 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
• Estimation of the Location, Trajectory, Size, and Altitude of the "Norway Spiral" Phenomenon 2009-2011