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Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 |
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Ball lightning or mirage of venus?
In SF#56, S. Campbell explained a potential UFO sighting in terms of a mirage of a jet landing at Edinburgh. Now he interprets a Russian ball lightning report as a mirage of Venus on the horizon. See what you think:
"Dr. Aleksandr Mitrofanov of the Institute of Physical Problems (sic) of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. and two friends were camping on the left bank of the River Oka near Ryazan (at a point where the river makes a sharp bend to the east) on the 23rd July 1974. It had been a clear day, very hot in the afternoon. Together with Muscovites from another encampment they sat up talking and drinking tea (sic) until late in the evening (in fact until early the next morning). At 2:10 a.m. they all saw a light which at first they thought was a torch. It appeared to be 70 metres away in the undergrowth along the bank. As they all stood up the 'ball lightning' (which iswhat Mitrofanov thought it was) seemed to 'float up' from behind the bushes and move straight towards them, increasing in size. But it did not reach them; it slowly 'swam' horizontally before disappearing after 4 minutes. When it seemed to be at its nearest a ring detached itself, like the ripple of water when a stone is thrown into water. The ring vanished as it expanded, but was followed by a second ring, less bright than the first. Before it vanished the ball took on a pear shape. Just after it vanished the sky in that direction, for about 10� of azimuth, became reddish and lighter than the rest of the sky to the north. This illumination lasted no longer than half a minute. The 'ball' had made no sound and there were no traces or smell remaining. Mitrofanov did not mention hearing thunder or seeing lightning."
(Campbell, Steuart; "Russian Accounts of Ball Lightning," Journal of Meteorology, U.K., 13:126, 1988. Journal address: 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England, BA15 1LD.)
Reference. A wide variety of ball lightning phenomena appear in GLB1 in our catalog: Lightning, Auroras. See details here.
 | Luminous phenomenon reported by Mitrofanov. The "ball lightning" seems to be positioned in front of some trees and, therefore, probably not a mirage of a celestial object. |