Beltsville, MarylandJanuary 1956

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 25, 1956, a fourteen-year-old student in Beltsville, Maryland took photographs he believed showed an unidentified flying object. The observer aimed a Zeiss Ikon camera fitted with a 75-millimeter lens at the moon, which was positioned toward the east-southeast at an elevation angle of about 85 degrees. The camera was mounted on a tripod. The exposure lasted from 2002 GMT until 2405 GMT, or roughly thirty-three minutes of total exposure time.

The photograph showed an elongated object with a curved shape. One of the file's evaluators noted that the object resembled a fluorescent light in appearance. The observer reported clear weather and no wind at the time of the sighting.

When investigators at the 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron reviewed the case, they concluded the photograph was not evidence of a UFO at all. They determined it was a time exposure of the moon itself. As the shutter remained open for over half an hour, the moon had moved across the sky, creating a curved arc on the film. The evaluators pointed to the spherical image visible at each end of the object as proof the observer had simply captured the moon's position at the start and finish of the long exposure. They compared the size of these round shapes to roof edges visible in the photograph to support their conclusion.

The Air Force assigned the sighting an evaluation of "was astronomical," classifying it as a misinterpretation of a natural celestial object.

This file comprises 17 pages as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Beltsville, Maryland

Date of incident

January 1956

State / country

MD / US

Page count

17 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 24

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 17

View transcribed text

3
go it
AE Xi eit PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ; : of
; 1. DATE oh 12. LocATION ey : 12. CONCLUSIONS fe
: 0 Was Balloon

; 24 January 1956 IBeltsville, Maryland (Photo)3Q Frobably Reisen
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION eaten Beles
| pL RRS RE X Broun d-Vi sual. O Ground-Radar = Probably Aircraft |
: © GMT_25/020677 ; 0 AirVisuadl 0 Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft {
ad ‘S.- PHOTOS . SOURCE | ; - | 8X Was Astronomical i
gE rR AxYes ; : i ; ; (u] Probably Astronomical |
FE i OMe Civilian (14 yrs old) O Possibly Astromomical |
~~ 72. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION I" NUMBER OF OBJECTS En BN = FT SRS DTA Se CE ee
| EAB] SERS y Fem "13 insufficient Data for Evaluation |
Si al x A . } QO Unknown |
R thirty three minutes one see photo : |
"ho. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS _ i
E See attached photo and AF Form 112, It is the opinion of the 4602d | |
: »|Similar to fluorescent light, AISS that the object on the
SPT attached photo is a time exposure |
gC of the moon. During the time of |
Eo : the exposure, the moon traversed
SESE el the arc depicted on the photo,

, Note the curvature of the object

the appearance of a spherical iE
image at each end of the obj, |
RAR © and the size of the spherical
Ee image is compared to the size of
gE - - DET the roof of the photo.
J. - ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 82) q J
1 2
i 3

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28964649