ENORMOUS GLOWING BALL OVER NORTHERN SIBERIA

'I thought it was the end of the world': Enormous glowing ball over northern Siberia sparks UFO fears, while others suggest that Putin is behind it

• The enormous glowing ball of light illuminated parts of northern Siberia last night  
• While the source of the light remains unclear, Russian media has suggested two possible causes
• Firstly, it may just be that a vivid display of the Northern Lights - or Aurora Borealis - was underway
• Or it may the trace of the Topol rocket which was launched by the Russian military around the time 

Russia has been hit by a wave of reports of a giant UFO in the sky last night with spectacular pictures of an enormous glowing ball illuminating northern Siberia.

Social media erupted with claims of 'aliens arriving' and locals in far flung parts of the country told of 'shivers down their spines'.

While the source of the light remains unclear, some have suggested that it was the the trace of a rocket launched by the Russian military that caused this extraordinary phenomenon in the night sky.

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Russia has been hit by a wave of reports of a giant UFO in the sky last night with spectacular pictures of an enormous glowing ball illuminating northern Siberia

WHAT IS IT?

While the source of the light remains unknown, local experts suggest there were two possible reasons for the eerie spectacle in the Siberian night sky.

The first was that a vivid display of the Northern Lights - or Aurora Borealis - was underway.

This is why photographers were out watching the sky when the suspected UFO appeared.

But the second is that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin had chosen this moment to frighten the West with grandiose military exercises by his strategic nuclear forces.

Missile tests were underway from submarines and aircraft last night, and the exercises included the launch of a super-powerful Topol rocket from Plesetsk cosmodrome, 550 miles north of Moscow. 

Vasily Zubkov posted: 'I went out to smoke a cigarette and thought it was the end of the world.' 

The extraordinary scenes were captured by leading Siberian photographer Sergey Anisimov in the town of Salekhard which straddles the Arctic Circle.

'I was taken aback for a few minutes, not understanding what was happening,' he said.

'The glowing ball rose from behind the trees and moved in my direction.

'My first thought was about the most powerful searchlight, but the speed of changing everything around changed the idea of what was happening.

'The ball began to turn into an arc and gradually dissipated.'

After the multi-coloured light show was over he went home to find local children as young as five in the yard babbling about 'aliens' and 'the portal to another dimension', he said.

Some 520 miles further east, another photographer Alexey Yakovlev admitted to feeling scared as he witnessed the UFO spectacle at Strezhevoi, in the north of Tomsk region, reported The Siberian Times. 

'At first I thought - it is such a radiance of such an unusual form, round in shape.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5023505/Huge-glowing-ball-northern-Siberia-sparks-UFO-fears.html