UPDATE: Circumstantial evidence is mounting that the phenomenon was caused by a malfunctioning rocket, possibly an ICBM launched from a Russian submarine. A Navtex no-fly alert was issued for the White Sea on Dec. 9th, and photographers appear to have recorded the initial boost phase of a launch below the spiral (see inset). A rocket motor spinning out of control could indeed explain the spiral pattern, so this explanation seems plausible, although it has not yet been confirmed.
From New Scientist, the reason it was such a perfect spiral is because it was a three stage rocket, of which stages 1 & 2 probably went fine, putting it close to the edge of space:
My friend had a great launch failure with one of those. He had a two stage rocket with a payload section, but got the stages backwards. Also, in the payload section, lacking any handy bugs, he put some gravel in (not sure why). So, the thing went up, but because the stages were backwards, it didn't fire the second stage immediately. This gave the rocket time to spin a bit: the gravel held the nose down and the tail flipped up. At that point the second engine kicked in, and the thing shot straight at the ground and smashed to bits. It was pretty cool to watch.
The further away the center of mass of a rocket is from center of pressure the more stable the rocket is.
Apollo's Launch Escape Vehicle, which was essentially a rocket with the payload below the engine, had a few hundred kilos of depleted uranium ballast placed at the top exactly for this reason—to move CM far enough for the vehicle to be stable.
Interesting, but it wasn't for that reason: those things are designed to be (and mostly are) stable without putting a bunch of weight on one end like that.
Not sure what you mean by "those" things. In LES case the reason was the one I stated for a simple reason: LES did not have gimbaled engines and had to rely on aerodynamics to be stable. Launch Abort System for the new Orion spacecraft will have attitude control motor and thus no need for ballast. See http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/2008001... for more. I will quote just a bit:
Another key difference from the Apollo launch escape system is with regard to control. Apollo utilized a passive system that relied on ~1,000 lbm of ballast to keep the abort vehicle passively stable during the escape rocket burn<…>
Oh. Time lapse photography. I didn't even notice the picture my brain tuned it out as photoshopped so quickly, but long-exposure times and a spiraling rocket make a perfect explanation.
It wasn't a long exposure. What you're seeing is the fuel/exhaust spreading out and catching the light in the upper atmosphere.
There's two kinds of chemicals. I guess the yellower is compressed liquid oxygen spilling out laterally as the rocket spins. I don't know what the blue is but it's probably the propellant.
Arrinton is petty, but mostly harmless. Murdoch on the other hand is a power broker who enjoys spreading FUD to serve his services on both a national and international scale.
In Russian papers they say that the military of Russia denies any rocket tests at all. Though, rocket tests were really planned for the morning of Wednesday. It should have been a 13th test launch of "Bulava" rocket(previously only 5 succeeded partly).
A rocket? Doesn't sound plausible. If it is in fact a rocket then someone should be able to replicate the spiral look over a deserted area in the middle of the US. I mean, just look at the video:
ZCZC FA79
031230 UTC DEC 09
COASTAL WARNING ARKHANGELSK 94
SOUTHERN PART WHITE SEA
1.ROCKET LAUNCHING 2300 07 DEC TO 0600 08 DEC
09 DC 0200 TO 0900 10 DEC 0100 TO 0900
NAVIGATION PROHIBITED IN AREA
65-12.6N 036-37.0E 65-37.2N 036-26.0E
66-12.3N 037-19.0E 66-04.0N 037-47.0E
66-03.0N 038-38.0E 66-06.5N 038-55.0E
65-11.0N 037-28.0E 65-12.1N 036-49.5E
THEN COASTAL LINE 65-12.2N 036-47.6E
2. CANCEL THIS MESSAGE 101000 DEC=
NNNN
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&...
from the second link:
It was a failed rocket launch from submarine
Sources in the Russian military confirmed to tv2nyhetene.no that the Bulava missile has been launched from a submarine on Wednesday morning.