Between Sterling City and Garden City, TexasFebruary 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On the night of February 13, 1961, four people in a car saw a colored light on the highway between Sterling City and Garden City, Texas, about 27 miles southeast of Webb Air Force Base. The main witness was a civilian auto parts salesman. The object was seen three times, for about one and one half minutes each time, over a 15 minute period.

The witnesses described a green oval light with a white light underneath, about the size of a baseball. The green light sometimes changed to orange. No sound was heard. The light appeared about 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon at an azimuth near 270 degrees. It seemed to dive toward the ground, then climb and disappear to the west.

The Air Force investigated with several weather and flight agencies. The card concludes the object was probably the planet Venus, which was very bright at the time. It states the car's movement could explain the apparent motion, and a thin cloud layer could explain the object appearing and disappearing.

Reported location

Between Sterling City and Garden City, Texas

Date of incident

February 1961

State / country

TX / US

Page count

6 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 6

View transcribed text

pill PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD ~*~ ~~ - :
1. DATE | 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | |
Between Sterling City and Garden|, wa, Bal
| 12 Feb 61 City, Texas O Probably Balloon |
| 3. DATE-TIME GROUP "| 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION BT a |
FIERA A MT LY B Ground- Visual  O Ground-Raodar = hbo Hr 40 oft |
owplozisz 0 Air Visuol O Air-Intercept Radar |O Possibly Aircraft |
5. ‘PHOTOS » SOURC : O Was Astronomical Ven (TAY |
a Yes X Probably Astronomical
o No : Civilian O Possibly Astronemicel
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE JR TOR —
Observed 3 times | | BD aT Dete for Evaluation
11/2 min ea time  R
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTINGGreen and white object |[!1- COMMENTS Ob jt of this sighting was ne
size of baseball. No sound heard. Green oval- | probably the Planet Venus. Planet was
ype light with a white light underneath, the | low on horizon at time of sighting,
green light occasionally changing to orange. atmospheric refzaction probably respon-
Appeared, aprox 15-20° 270° azimuth; disappear} sible for apparent increase and decreasq |
ed same position. Appeared fm W and dived to- | in elevation. Color changes associated With
gard ground off to right of observer, then sighting were due to dispersion. On datd
climbed and disappeared to W, Observer estimatp®f sighting the planet was very bright, |
6000 -8000 ft on initial sighting with descent| having magnitude less than maximum nag.
to 300-500 ft above ground, then disappearing pt about
6000-8000 ft.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
: : i
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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991401