RUSSIA SAYS THIS SWIRLING BALL OF LIGHT IS AN ICBM, NOT A UFO

io9.com

June 8 2012

Skygazers from Lebanon to Armenia flooded police hotlines Thursday
night with reports that a bright, spiraling UFO was illuminating
the night skies. Then came the YouTube videos. Uninformed, ad
hoc commentary on whether the lights were a good omen for Syria’s
revolution, or a bad one soon followed.

Then Russia came along and rained on everyone’s parade. Writes Cosmic
Log’s Alan Boyle:

The actual explanation is almost certainly more mundane: The Voice
of Russia reported that the country’s Strategic Missile Forces
conducted a test of the Topol ICBM from the Kapustin Yar firing range
near Astrakhan in southern Russia on Thursday. Such a launch could
theoretically be seen from areas of the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Citing a report from RIA Novosti, the radio service said the missile
“accurately hit its target” in a Kazakh firing range. However,
Ynetnews quoted Yigal Pat-El, chairman of the Israel Astronomical
Association, as saying the missile “most likely spun out of control,
and its remnants and the fuel was what people saw.”

In brief: rest easy friends. It’s not a UFO; it’s just an
out-of-control ICBM.