Strange Spiral Cloud near Moscow

This has been trending over the past 6 hours;









Anyone recall the 'spiral cloud' in Norway?



The Norway 'spiral cloud' was alleged to be a malfunctioning Russian submarine-launched rocket. This latest one is in Moscow. Another faulty rocket...?

Source: Netall.ru, photo by "donskoi92"

The captions read:
Небесная спираль. Утро 24 декабря 2012 года, Крюковская эстакада. Фото прислал donskoi92
"Celestial spiral. Morning of December 24, 2012, Kryukovskaya Pier. Photos sent donskoi92"

Source? Or did you take these pictures yourself?

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
The Norway 'spiral cloud' was alleged to be a malfunctioning Russian submarine-launched rocket. This latest one is in Moscow. Another faulty rocket...?

My first thoughts are that these two look absolutely nothing like each other in any way at all.

The new one looks more like some acrobatic planes were doing some work and left some contrails behind them.

Most likely 2 planes made it. It looks like a DNA strand. Toying with peoples minds, a prank i would think.

Super cool photos!
Curious to see the photo experts opinions.

I don't quite believe those were made by plane contrails, but I'm no expert.

reply to post by Ear-Responsible


I amended my post for the blog source, apologies for the oversight.

reply to post by jimmiec


That's a lot of work and extremely expert maneuvering skills for a prank that someone is bound to debunk very soon considering it's right over a city and people would have seen the planes doing their work.

reply to post by Jengaa
[moreIn the second pic i see a trail that was made by a plane, so there was at least one plane in the area.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

No worries, thanks.

Definitely cool, reminds me of a double helix as another member mentioned. However I believe it to be the work an acrobatic plane, as another member also mentioned lol.

One of the Russian comments from the blog source reads:

В Химках есть испытательный стенд по запуску реактивных двигателей (ну или близко к этой теме) которые после запуска оставляют такие следы. Видимо морозы сказываются что такие формы остаются дольше чем раньше. Раньше они виднелись только над Химками (видел из башни Бизнес Центра). Теперь могут пролетать значительно большее расстояния...

In Khimki has a test bed for running jet engines (or close to this topic) that after starting left such traces. Apparently frost effect that such forms are longer than ever before. Previously, they could be seen only over Khimki (seen from the tower of the Business Center.) Can now fly much greater distances ...

Another comment reads:

Да это опять Булаву испытывают.

Yes, it is once again Bulava test.

The 'Bulava' test refers to the Bulava ICBM misfire that produced the Norway spiral. (Background on Bulava missile tests)

Khimki is a city in Moscow and appears to be a big jet/rocket testing center. There's actually been talk of putting a 'world space observatory' tower there; (World Space Observatory may be created in Khimki)

Cheers.

I can tell the pictures are taken from different positions, but one of them comes out angled. Can someone explain why that would be? Or would it suggest that there are TWO of the spiral anomalies?
One horizontal and one angled?

Originally posted by Qubert
I can tell the pictures are taken from different positions, but one of them comes out angled. Can someone explain why that would be? Or would it suggest that there are TWO of the spiral anomalies?
One horizontal and one angled?

The 3 pictures where it appears vertical could all have been taken from approximately the same direction, where as the 1 where it appears at an angle could be from a different perspective.
These "rockets" do make interesting trails.

I found a very interesting, but short, article in an Australian newspaper that sounds remarkably similar to the Norway Spiral of 2009 ... except it was reported way back in 1914.

The article appeared in the Ballarat Courier on 1 May 1914 describing a "strange phenomenon". The article stated that "a light appeared in the sky about 45 degrees above the horizon, and after a while it took on a spiral form, resembling a gigantic snake. It stood out snowy white in the sky, and it could afterwards be seen faintly in the darkness.”

As this was reported in 1914, it is unlikely that, in this case at least, the phenomenon would have been caused by a ballistic missile test.

The helix is cool, but most likely the result of a stunt pilot like others have said.

The Norway spiral on the other hand, was not the result of a rocket. There's clearly a light source either projecting an image or producing some kind of field... but that's been beaten to death.

delete

Originally posted by weirdaustralia
I found a very interesting, but short, article in an Australian newspaper that sounds remarkably similar to the Norway Spiral of 2009 ... except it was reported way back in 1914.

[...]

As this was reported in 1914, it is unlikely that, in this case at least, the phenomenon would have been caused by a ballistic missile test.

Now THAT's interesting. Looking for a link.

UPDATE: Got it. Found the article. This appears legit!

Article identifier: nla.gov.au...
Page identifier: nla.gov.au...

APA citation:
PHENOMENON IN SKY. (1914, May 1). The Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), p. 7 Edition: DAILY.. Retrieved December 26, 2012, from nla.gov.au... MLA citation "PHENOMENON IN SKY." The Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1914 - 1918) 1 May 1914: 7 Edition: DAILY.. Web. 26 Dec 2012 .

Harvard/Australian citation:
1914 'PHENOMENON IN SKY.', The Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), 1 May, p. 7 Edition: DAILY., viewed 26 December, 2012, nla.gov.au...

Wikipedia citation:
[[cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article73300223 |title=PHENOMENON IN SKY. |newspaper=[[The Ballarat Courier |The Ballarat Courier (Vic. : 1914 - 1918)]] |location=Vic. |date=1 May 1914 |accessdate=26 December 2012 |page=7 Edition: DAILY. |publisher=National Library of Australia]]

prolly just 2 planes making a ...

prank ..

or just having fun .. nothing more..

Definitely cool looking but I do think it's just pilot(s) having fun .. I've seen that same thing in air shows with pilots stalling the engines and letting the plane drop with smoke emitted from the back.. odd to see it outside of an airshow, but not unheard of I'm sure..

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


great pics!!



really, good to see a pic like this and it is an incredible formation, whatever it is.

s & f from me

reply to post by weirdaustralia


yep well done on that one... we didn't have technology like we have now in those days... makes it very interesting.