What’s blue and white, squiggly and suddenly appears in the sky?

If you know the answer, pop it on a postcard and send it to the people of Norway, where this mysterious light show baffled residents yesterday.

Speculation was increasing today that the show was the result of an embarrassing failed test launch of a jinxed new Russian missile.

The Bulava missile was test-fired from the Dmitry Donskoi submarine in the White Sea early on Wednesday but failed at the third stage, say newspapers in Moscow today.

Weird spiral: Residents in northern Norway were left stunned after the lightshow, which nearly looked computer-generated, appeared in the skies above them

Curious: A blue-green beam of light was reported to have come shooting out the centre of the spiral

This emerged despite earlier reports
denying a missile launch yesterday. Even early today there was no
formal confirmation from the Russian Defence Ministry.

The light appears to be unconnected
with the aurora borealis, or northern lights, the natural magnetic
phenomena that can often be viewed in that part of the world.

The mystery started when a blue light
seemed to soar up from behind a mountain in the north of the country.
It stopped mid-air, then started to go in circles. Within seconds a
giant spiral had covered the entire sky.

light shot out from its centre – lasting for ten to 12 minutes before disappearing completely.

Onlookers describing it as ‘like a
huge fireball that went around, with a fantastic light around it’ and ‘a
shooting star that spun around and around’.

Yesterday a Norwegian defence spokesman said the show was most likely from a failed Russian test launch.

Confusion: The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with calls after the light storm

Tromsō Geophysical Observatory
researcher Truls Lynne Hansen agreed, saying the missile had likely
veered out of control and exploded, and the spiral was light reflecting
on the leaking fuel.

But last night Russia denied it had been conducting missile tests in the area.

A Moscow news outlet quoted the Russian Navy as denying any rocket launches from the White Sea area.

Norway should be informed of such launches under international agreements, it was stressed.

But this morning media reports claimed a missile had indeed been launched from the White Sea. Test firings are usually made from the White Sea, close to the Norwegian Arctic region.

Kommersant newspaper reported today that a test-firing before dawn on
Wednesday coincided with the light show in the northern sky.

It also emerged today that Russia last week formally told Norway of
a window when a missile test might be carried out.

What could it be? Astronomers say the spectacle did not appear to be connected to the Northern Lights

This included a
seven hour period early on Wednesday at the time when the lights were
seen.

The submarine Dmitry Donskoy went to sea on Monday, ahead of the test, and some reports suggest the vessel is now back in port.

A Russian military source said today that ‘the third stage of the rocket did not work’.

The Russian Defence Ministry, with characteristic secrecy, has so far been unavailable for comment.

The Buluva, despite being crucial to Russia’s plans to revamp its weaponry, is becoming an embarrassment after nine failed launches in 13 tests, prompting calls for it to be scrapped.

In theory, it has a range of 5,000 miles and could carry up
to ten nuclear weapons bound for separate targets.

A previous failure in July  forced the resignation of Yury Solomonov,
the director of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology which is
responsible for developing the missile.

But, he is now working as chief designer on the jinxed project.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute was flooded with telephone calls after the light storm yesterday morning.

Totto Eriksen, from Tromsø, told VG Nett: ‘It spun and exploded in the sky,’

He spotted the lights as he walked his daughter Amalie to school.

He said: ‘We saw it from the Inner Harbor in Tromsø. It was absolutely fantastic.

‘It nearly looked like a rocket that spun around and around and then went diagonally down the heavens.

‘It looked like the moon was coming over the mountain, but then came something completely different.’

Celebrity astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard said he had never seen anything like the lights.

He said: ‘My first thought was that it was a fireball meteor, but it has lasted far too long.

‘It may have been a missile in Russia, but I can not guarantee that it is the answer.’

Air traffic control in Tromsō claimed the light show lasted ‘far too long to be an astronomical phenomenon’.

See video showing part of the light here, and below

Mystery as spiral blue light display hovers above Norway - updated10.0101

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