10 mi S of Clines Corner And Albuquerque, N. M., January 1959January 1959

On the evening of January 4, 1959, a laboratory technician driving north on U.S. Highway 285 near Clines Corner, New Mexico, spotted an unusual object in the sky. The sighting occurred around 8:30 a.m. (GMT), about 10 miles south of Clines Corner. The observer first saw the object at a low angle, moving slowly and flashing with light as it passed over the road ahead.

The object was described as roughly the size of a grapefruit. It glowed across its entire surface, with colors that shifted from blue to green to orange. A red light flared from its rear end. After moving slowly for several minutes, the object suddenly accelerated to tremendous speed, passing nearly overhead from west to east. It then stopped at an unknown distance to the east, hanging motionless about 25 degrees above the horizon before disappearing from view near Albuquerque. The entire sighting lasted between 15 and 20 minutes. The observer watched through binoculars for part of the time, and a total of three adults and two children witnessed the event at various points.

The Air Force investigated the sighting by interviewing the observer and checking weather records. Investigators noted that weather balloons released in the area did not coincide with the time of the sighting. The official evaluation concluded the object was probably the star Spica, suggesting that distortion caused by atmospheric conditions and the observer's motion in a moving car created the illusion of movement and changing colors.

The full case file, consisting of 7 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.