Watch this: Mysterious luminous object appears over Lebanon, Turkish-Syrian border. Ballistic missile reentry vehicle or meteor?

Update Jun. 10, 2012 22.20 GMT

A mysterious luminous object appeared over north Lebanon, Marjaayoun, the Bekaa and the Syrian-Turkish border, as well as over Iran on Jun. 7 evening.

Although according to some sources  the luminous object was the result of a large meteorite that exploded leaving a visible train of dust, the object, which gave off light and was followed by a seemingly smoke trail, has not been clearly identified and some astronomers believe that it was not a meteor.

The sort-of UFO was also filmed over Lökbatan, a settlement in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Dr. Yigal Pat-El, the chairman of the Israeli Astronomical Association and Givataim observatory in central Israel, who spoke to the Ynetnews, said:

“It looked like a small body that suddenly started to grow and make spiral-like movements,” he said. “After a while, it turned into a cloud….it looked like an object flying high above ground and then disintegrating.”

Image credit: LBC International

Others said that the shape of the object/light could be similar to that generated by an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile reentry vehicle. In the following days, it was revealed that on Jun. 7, Russia has test-fired a new Topol-M series missile code-named RS-12. However, the test reportedly took place at 09.39 Moscow Time whereas the object was spotted later in the evening.

Eventually, it was confirmed that the mysterious light was caused by a Russian missile test, althought the actual type of weapon was not disclosed.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force

In 2009 similar reports were received in Norway, following a failed Russian SLBM RSM-56 Bulava missile test that generated a weird visual effect consisting of a blue beam of light with a greyish spiral emanating from one end of it.

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.