Strange Skies
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Fireball

UFO filmed over Lima, Peru

The 'burning' UFO was filmed travelling across the sky above Lima, Peru, for a full minute
© Photo: Alerta NoticiasThe 'burning' UFO was filmed travelling across the sky above Lima, Peru, for a full minute
The mysterious orange light was filmed for a full minute.

A mysterious 'burning' UFO has been filmed travelling across the sky above a capital city.

Residents of Lima, Peru, were left stunned as the orange light floated slowly through the air in the slightly darkened sky.

Sun

Stunning halo effect around the sun seen in Russia's North

Sun dog in Russia
© Matto_Nastia/Instagram
Internet users from Murmansk, Tyumen, and Chelyabinsk are uploading photos of a shining circle around the sun - a natural phenomenon known as the halo effect, especially stunning in the dim northern skies.

Sometimes called winter rainbows, the halo is created by ice crystals which cause refraction, just as rainbows are caused by water droplets. The symmetrical patches of light, tinged with red on the inside, are called mock suns, parhelia, or sundogs.

The caption to this image from the city of Chelyabinsk (remember the meteorite in 2013?) reads "Right now: halo effect in Chelyabinsk."
Chelyabinsk, Russia
© Via Instagram/Denisk4x4
Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky. Circular halos, light pillars, and the above-mentioned sundogs are among the better-known forms of the phenomenon.

These photos were uploaded from the city of Tyumen, where the temperature is around -20C.

Tyumen, Russia
© Via Instagram/Serebryakov89

Bizarro Earth

Strange glowing in the sky during New Zealand's earthquake possibly 'earthquake lightning'


What was that strange light in the sky? Many people overnight reported seeing strange lights in the sky, a phenomenon that has been reported for centuries before, during, and after earthquakes.

Seismologists aren't in agreement about the causes of the hotly-debated phenomenon - called earthquake lights or, sometimes, earthquake lightning.

Earthquake Damage Canterbury
© Iain McGregor/Fairfax NZMajor damage caused by the 7.5-magnitude earthquake in Canterbury.
And, of course, it's not clear whether the lights overnight in New Zealand were the phenomenon, or something else. One theory suggests dormant electrical charges in rocks are triggered by the stress of the Earth's crust and plate tectonics, transferring the charge to the surface where it appears as light.

Historical reports include globes, or orbs, of glowing light, floating just above the ground or in the sky.

Question

Sonic boom over South Dakota remains a mystery

Leonid Meteor
© Wikimedia CommonsA meteor during the peak of the 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower. The photograph shows the meteor, afterglow, and wake as distinct components.
Spearfish — The mystery of what caused Monday's loud boom remains.

Some theories have been refuted, while more mysterious references have appeared.

Shortly before 2 p.m., the boom was heard throughout the Black Hills. Some people said it shook their homes or businesses, rattling windows, and scaring them in several instances.

But the noise was heard in a much larger area than the Black Hills. Responses to Tuesday's Black Hills Pioneer story reported hearing the noise from Western Nebraska to Southeast Montana.

Kathy Griesse reported hearing the noise near the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument south of Harrison, Neb. She said it sounded like the noise came from the north and west of her. Additionally, she talked to people in Crawford, Neb., where people told her windows rattled at the sound of the boom; people in Whitney, Neb., also heard the noise.

On the northern end of reports, Lane Pilster said he heard the boom at his ranch, 14 miles west of Alzada, Mont.

This is about a 200-mile straight-line distance between the two reported locations.

Pilster reported that he and his dad both heard the noise to the south of them.

"The beginning of it was intense, but then faded off with a dull rumbling like a jet was flying by. The sound probably lasted about 8-10 seconds," Pilster said.

He also said he felt a moderate vibration around 5:30 a.m. Monday, and that it lasted 15-20 seconds.

He wasn't the only one to hear a strange noise apart from the 2 p.m. event.

Brad Scott, of Spearfish, heard a loud boom in downtown Spearfish around 7:30 a.m. Sunday

He described it as the "sound of about 8 shotguns going off at once."

So what was the noise?

Question

Aurora and mystery object photographed over Sweden

"Massive auroras and an unidentified object are dancing in the sky above Abisko National Park," reports Chad Blakley of Abisko, Sweden. "Our group of eight lucky aurora watchers were out in the park enjoying the display when something very odd appeared in the sky - a luminous crescent-shaped cloud with what appears to be some sort of a flowing, cloud like tail." The park's webcam captured this image of the cloud:
Aurora and Mystery Cloud
© Chad Blakley Taken by Chad Blakley on November 11, 2016 @ Abisko National Park, Sweden.
"At first I thought the object was lens flare produced by the bright Moon, but the object has moved from one area of the sky to another in four sequential photographs captured over a 20 minute timeframe," adds Blakley. "Seeing this incredible phenomenon share the sky with strong auroras has truly been a once in a lifetime event for our guests."

The cloud resembles a rocket fuel dump. Readers, if you think you know what this is, tell us.

Satellite

Mystery object believed to be Chinese satellite, lands at jade mine in Myanmar

Photograph of the metal debris
© Yannaing Pyi Sone AungPhotograph of the metal debris.
A large metal object has fallen from the sky into a jade mining area in north Myanmar, state media say. The cylindrical object, found on Thursday in Kachin state, is 4.5m (15ft) long and 1.2m wide.

Another piece of metal with Chinese writing on it tore through the roof of a nearby house at about the same time, but no injuries were reported. It is thought that the incident might be related to the launch of a Chinese satellite.

A Chinese Long March 11 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Wednesday night, carrying an experimental satellite.

'Houses shook'

Local residents reported hearing a loud bang before the object landed. Officials from the local Defence Service said it bounced 150ft (50m) and landed in a muddy area of the mine, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

"We were all afraid of that explosion," villager Ko Maung Myo told the Myanmar Times. "Initially, we thought it was a battle. The explosion made our houses shake. We saw the smoke from our village."

He said that the air near the object smelled acrid.

"The metal objects are assumed to be part of a satellite or the engine parts of a plane or missile," Global New Light reported.

The object appeared to be same shape and size as a part of the rocket known as a stage, says BBC science correspondent Jonathan Amos. Rocket stages are supposed to fall away into bodies of water or uninhabited areas. The Kachin state government said it was unable to immediately identify the object.

Info

Exploring the Zone of Silence in Mexico

The Zone of Silence
© David McNew/Getty Images/StaffThe Zone of Silence is found in the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve, which is a mostly uninhabited expanse. Here, amidst the desolate terrain, radio signal ceases and meteorites come crashing down.
The Bermuda Triangle is mystery enough, but a 50-kilometer patch of land in Mexico is becoming an increasingly common area of bizarre incidents.

According to a report from Atlas Obscura, the Zone of Silence is found in the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve, which is a mostly uninhabited expanse. Here, amidst the desolate terrain, radio signal ceases and meteorites come crashing down.

It's this strange radio silence that inspired the name of this area. In 1966, a national oil company called Pemex ordered an expedition to explore this place. When the group began experiencing problems with his radio, leader Augusto Harry de la Peña dubbed it the Zone of Silence.

The eerie phenomenon of dying radios has been attributed to be the effect of subterranean magnetite and debris from meteorites. After all, there have been significant meteorites landing in this particular area. The 20th century saw a few of this crashes, including two that even crashed in the same ranch in a span of less than 20 years. (And they say lightning don't strike the same place twice.)

Phoenix

Phoenix-shaped clouds appear over Odessa, Ukraine

Phoenix-shaped clouds
Phoenix-shaped clouds
A series of Phoenix-shaped clouds impressed bystanders as they appeared in the sky over the Ukraine.

Video shared to AOL showed the strange, wispy cloud formations which resembled the mythical birds, as they floated over the skies of Odessa.

Children can also be heard shouting in amazement at the unusual sight just above the cities skyline.

The footage taken on Sunday also features the sun peeking over the horizon granting an orange tint to the bizarre clouds, causing them to resemble the phoenix's flaming feathers.


Info

Indian scientists revealed 'cracked' Earth's magnetosphere

Earth and moon
© Pixabay
Earth's magnetosphere, an invisible and highly-charged atmospheric layer that protects life on the planet from external radiation, was briefly cracked, Indian scientists have revealed, after analyzing a powerful geomagnetic storm from last year that was caused by the Sun.

The blast was registered in June 2015 after a huge cloud of plasma released from the Sun struck the Earth at a speed of some 2.5 million kph.

The report in Physical Review Letters states that the impact of the solar storm caused the Earth's magnetic shield to compress, leading to massive geomagnetic atmospheric anomalies. Storm effects included aurora borealis and radio signal interruptions across several continents.

Camera

Rare sun dog appears above Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

Sun dog in Lake of the Ozarks
© Tony Reahr
An uncommon atmospheric phenomenon shone next to the sun, above the Lake on Tuesday.

As the sun approached the horizon at the end of an uncommonly warm November day, a "sun dog" could be seen. The photo above was taken near Horseshoe Bend.

Sun dogs are also known as "mock suns" or "phantom suns" and are created when sunlight reflects off ice crystals in the atmosphere. They can appear on both sides of the sun, often when it is close to the horizon.