Cannon AFB, New MexicoJanuary 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 15, 1961, three people sitting in a parked car near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico watched a glowing sphere move across the sky for about 20 to 25 seconds. The object appeared roughly the size of a dime held at arm's length. It started white and turned dull red as it moved.

The witnesses saw the object first appearing northwest of their position, about 45 degrees above the horizon. It then moved slowly straight down, then horizontal to the left, then upward with increasing speed, and finally angled downward toward the horizon to the right. The object seemed to stay the same size throughout its descent. It disappeared from view when its flight path went behind an outdoor movie screen nearby. The witnesses determined the object was moving straight down by tracking its path against the screen as a reference point.

Two of the three witnesses gave detailed accounts. An Air Police airman filed the original report. A second witness described the object's color slightly differently, first as pink and then turning bright red, though otherwise the two accounts matched closely. The third person in the car was not wearing glasses and did not see the object.

The Air Force concluded the sighting was probably the planet Venus. The report noted that Venus was in approximately the position the witnesses reported. The investigators suggested that the maneuvers the witnesses described were probably caused by clouds in the area and atmospheric effects. The object's apparent movement toward the north, they noted, coincided with Venus's apparent descent toward the horizon.

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

Reported location

Cannon AFB, New Mexico

Date of incident

January 1961

State / country

NM / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 7

View transcribed text

| 3
a PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD . .
§ 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
0 Was Balloon
| 15 Jan 61 Cannon AFB, New Mexico 0 re Beftuon |
| 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION By
| Local BRD iii ndhiion TK Ground- Visual O Ground-Radar a besbably Aircreft |
| 8 GMT 160 3552 0 Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar O Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE O Was Astronomical YEAIUS |
0 Yes Rn Probably Astronomicol
B No | Military D Possibly Astronomical :
——
| . OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 0D Othe eee
 — GF GUBERVATION I TPL om | o] Insofficient Deta for Evaluation i
- 0 Unknown
10-20 Sec. 1 Descending
E 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Sphere-shaped object, 11. COMMENTSyi{tnesses were sitting in an ]
size of dime at arms length. White changed auto, and whether it was a convertible
1 to dull red. Appeared NW 45° above horizon. or hard top would determine whether the
Disappeared NW 30° above horizon. Moved could see as high above the horizon as
3 slowly straight down, then horizontal to left,| was reported. Planet Venus was in aprox
E then up increasing speed, then angled down to position reported by witnesses. Maneuvexs
: the right toward the horizon. Size of the obje t reported were probably due to clouds in
did not appear to vary as it descended. the area and atmosphere. Object was re-
1 ported to have moved toward N, which
coincides with movement of planet during
: its apparent descent toward the horizon
; 1 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991080