Dalnegorsk

Dalnegorsk and Height 611

On 29 January 1986 a reddish sphere crossed this town in the Russian Far East and struck the rock of a hill the locals know by its elevation — Height 611. Dozens of people watched it come down; there was no impact and no explosion, and it moved slowly and almost without sound. A burnt patch was found on the rock, and in it mesh-like fragments of an iron, chromium and nickel alloy, glassy spheres and beads of lead. The samples were carried round Soviet institutes for years; the results diverged, and some researchers concluded the composition was industrial and terrestrial. Dozens of expeditions have examined the site since. Dalnegorsk remains the best-known place in the subject in Russia after Molyobka.