Posted on 11/19/2014 12:02:42 PM PST by McGruff
This is the moment an explosively bright orange flash briefly illuminated the sky above a remote region in central Russia.
Locals compared the bright orange glow with what they would have expected from a nuclear explosion and many managed to capture the images in Russia’s Sverdlovsk region in the Urals in pictures and video.
But despite the ample illustrations online, neither astrologist's or emergency services in the region so far have managed to come up with an explanation for exactly what is happening.
Scientist Viktor Grokhovsky, who is a member of the meteorites committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he believed it was a massive meteor that had nevertheless burned up just at it got above the cloud creating the glare. He said: "It looks as if it disintegrated before it hit the Earth and illuminated the whole sky in the process."
However, a meteor-watching blog quotes Marco Langbroek of the Dutch Meteor Society saying: "I doubt this one is a meteor."
He points out that the onlookers already seemed to be aware of a red glow in the sky before the flare-up — and that when the light does appear, it was stationary. "To me, it looks like a fire or series of small explosions and subsequent large explosion or flash fire reflecting on a cloud deck," he concluded.
A local news site suggested there was an old chemical plant outside the nearby town of Rezh, the explosion of which would be consistent with this phenomenon, and one local on the forum of Astronomy.ru wrote there were also reports of the military setting off ammunition. A local council official was quoted as saying that it might have been a controlled disposal of ammunition by the military, but the military denied this was the case.
"No exercise and training were underway on that day, and no military units are based in the region, so we have nothing to do with it," a military press service told E1.ru.
Regional emergency services said no accidents in connection with the event had been recorded. No sound of explosion has been reported either.
The other popular explanation was that it was a space launch as there are launches made from the Plesetsk cosmodrome which is in the area. But, according to Russian Federal Space Agency's website, the latest launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome happened on October 29, with the next one planned for November 24.
Local news reporting they have finally found out it was military discarding expired ammunition.
In mid-air?
Ukranian commando attack!!!
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