Case file · Sighting
'Space jellyfish' rocket sightings
Glowing, tentacled shapes seen in twilight skies are sunlit rocket exhaust; Soviet launches from Plesetsk caused famous 'UFO' panics.
1977 CE · 62.93, 40.58 · status: explained
The account
When a rocket climbs into sunlight while observers below are in darkness, its expanding plume can look like a luminous jellyfish or spiral. The 1977 Petrozavodsk 'jellyfish' coincided with a launch from Plesetsk, and similar sightings have followed launches worldwide, from the 2009 Norwegian spiral (a failed Bulava missile) to SpaceX launches over the US.
The sceptical view
This is the explanation itself; the trick is matching each sighting to a launch.
Connections in the atlas
- The 1981 'sky spiral' over western China
- The 1982 halo over northern China
- Norwegian spiral
- Canary Islands 'sphere', 22 June 1976
- Petrozavodsk phenomenon