A strange light was observed floating through the Russian skies on December 23rd, 2011. Multiple citizens were able to capture the odd “halo UFO” on their cellphones as it flew silently across. The word started to spread online and blogs (along with news sites) began presenting this as some extraterrestrial craft.

Cue in the X Files theme.

The strange looking light was nothing more than the failed Russian satellite “Meridian”.

Russia’s Defense Ministry has officially confirmed the loss of the satellite, launched from the cosmodrome “Plesetsk”. “Meridian” is a dual-spacecraft, designed for both military and civilian targets. Held on Friday launched a satellite of this type was the fifth since 2006, occurred prior to May of this year and was successful.

According to the Troops and Space Defense, Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin, cause loss of the satellite were problems in the motor carrier rocket “Soyuz-2”. “At the 421-th second flight as a result of abnormal third stage propulsion rocket” Soyuz-2 “spacecraft is not excluded into the proper orbit,” –source: DNI