Petrozavodsk phenomenon
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 5
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Petrozavodsk |
The Petrozavodsk phenomenon was a series of luminous objects reported across northwestern Russia, Finland and neighbouring countries before dawn on 20 September 1977, named after the city of Petrozavodsk in Soviet Karelia, where a glowing object appeared to shower the city with rays. It is now usually attributed to the launch of the Soviet satellite Kosmos-955, though that explanation has been disputed.[1][2]
The Petrozavodsk report
The first published account came from TASS correspondent Nikolai Milov, who described a "huge star" that flared up in the dark sky at about 4 a.m. local time, sending shafts of light to the ground. His report appeared in Pravda, Izvestiya and other major Soviet papers. Witnesses in the city included paramedics, police, port workers, military personnel, airport staff and an amateur astronomer.[1]
Wider sightings
Reports came from a wide area. In Helsinki, newspapers described a glowing ball seen by taxi drivers, police and airport staff; a Finnish airline crew reported a glowing object over Copenhagen. In Leningrad, three night-shift staff at Pulkovo airport, including an air traffic controller, described a fireball surrounded by a rhythmically glowing shell. Soviet researchers had collected 85 reports by the end of 1978, some with drawings. A few witnesses described more structured objects, such as an engineer at Kurkijoki who said he saw an airship-like craft.[1]
Official response
Officials in northern European countries asked the president of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Anatoly Aleksandrov, whether Soviet weapons tests were responsible and whether the region's environment was at risk. A preliminary report for the Academy concluded that the available data were not sufficient to understand the phenomenon. The episode helped prompt the creation of Setka, a Soviet research programme on anomalous atmospheric phenomena.[1][3]
Kosmos-955
Writer James Oberg attributed the sightings to the launch of Kosmos-955 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome at about 3:58 local time on 20 September, arguing that people to the southwest saw the rocket's exhaust plume lit by sunlight at high altitude. IZMIRAN scientist Yuli Platov supported this in 1984, and similar sights after dawn or dusk launches have since become known as "space jellyfish". Critics such as the Soviet researcher Gindilis noted that some witnesses described movement in a different direction from the launch and long hovering, which they felt the launch did not explain.[1][3]
References
- Petrozavodsk phenomenon — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Petrozavodsk phenomenon materials, Astronet (in Russian) · astronet.ru · archived copy
- "History of state UFO research in the USSR", Committee for Skeptical Inquiry · csicop.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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