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THE PETROZAVODSK PHENOMENON L. M. Gindilis and Yu. K. Kolpakov 10 pages, 1 map, 8 drawings, 5 references
<...> At night, early on the 20th of September of 1977, over a vast area in the north-west of the European part of the USSR, unusual light phenomena in the atmosphere were observed, namely formation and motion of bright luminous bodies surrounded by extended shells and emitting light rays or jets of quaint shapes. The shells transformed and diffused within 10 to 15 minutes. Besides, a more long-lived, stable glow was observed, mostly in the north-eastern part of the sky. These phenomena took place during disturbances of the geomagnetic field and the upper atmosphere. Somewhere aurora borealis was seen. <...> The phenomenon lasted from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., Moscow time. Three phases may be distinguished in it. The first one took the period of time approximately till 4 a.m.; isolated observations were made at some sites indicated in Fig. 1. These did not coincide in time and were little similar in appearance. The second phase embraces a much larger number of sites. At all the sites (maybe with one or two exceptions), practically simultaneously, within a few minutes, similar (though not totally identical) phenomena were observed. Most of the 120, or so, reports considered in this paper belong to this phase. We call it the main phase of the phenomenon. It began at 3.55 or 3.57 a.m. and lasted for 10 to 20 minutes. The next, third phase that lasted till daybreak was characterized by stable radiance, mostly observed in the north-east. At some sites, during this phase, motion of luminous bodies was seen. <...> Since the main phase of the phenomenon had similar features when observed from many sites, it is reasonable to suppose that there was one source of the luminous bodies. However, its nature has remained unknown. <...> Coming back to the phenomenon of September 20, 1977, we have to admit that it had certain anomalous characteristics, for which it may not be explained in terms of well-known phenomena, like bolides, aurora borealis, or ball lightning. It is also hard to imagine a technical experiment of so large a scale, with so unique characteristics. We can only conceive a very uncertain assumption that when the magnetosphere is disturbed, some ordinary experiments could trigger off more powerful processes in the atmosphere. However such an assumption is too general and speculative, because the nature of these processes and the mechanism of their impact on the environment are still quite unclear. This can point to the trend of search, but does not provide explanation as such. As we think, the question of the nature of the phenomenon under consideration is still open. <...>
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