A huge glowing 'jellyfish' over Petrozavodsk is reported by TASS and studied by Soviet scientists
September 20, 1977 · Petrozavodsk, Karelia · Sighting · Secondary sources only
At about 4:05 am on 20 September 1977, people in Petrozavodsk, including police, sailors and an ambulance crew, saw a bright jellyfish-like object over Lake Onega that hovered, sent down thin beams and left after about 12 minutes. TASS reported 'a strange natural phenomenon over Karelia', and the Academy of Sciences called it a real physical phenomenon needing study. It led to a secret state program run by the Defense Ministry and the Academy from 1978 to 1990, which logged about 3,000 reports, found about 300 anomalous and concluded there was no substantive evidence of alien visitation.
Why it matters (4/5)
Reported openly in the Soviet press and studied by the Academy of Sciences; it helped start a state research program.
Caveats
James Oberg, then a NASA mission controller, tied the sighting to a Soviet launch from Plesetsk at 3:58 am, minutes earlier. This entry rests on a single Moscow Times account.
Sources
- Little Green Men: A Look at the Official Soviet X-Files Investigation (The Moscow Times), context