What happened
On the morning of December 9, 2009, residents of northern Norway saw a blue beam of light emerge from behind the mountains, stop in the sky, and begin to rotate, unfurling a grayish, ever-growing spiral around itself. The phenomenon lasted about ten minutes and was visible throughout Northern Norway, in Trøndelag, and in northern Sweden. Hundreds of people called the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and photographs spread through media worldwide, sparking speculation about UFOs, wormholes, and ionospheric experiments. A month earlier, a similar though less spectacular phenomenon had been seen over Norway.
Witnesses
Hundreds of residents of northern Norway and Sweden; the phenomenon was photographed and filmed by many people.
Explanations and hypotheses
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that a Bulava ballistic missile had been launched that morning from a submarine in the White Sea and that the test had failed. The missile’s uncontrolled spin and the fuel it expelled, lit by the Sun still below the horizon, formed the spiral. The explanation is widely accepted.
Explained The phenomenon has a widely accepted, down-to-earth explanation.
More: Wikipedia (en)