Cape Canaveral, FloridaSeptember 1961

On September 8, 1961, a tracking telescope at Cape Canaveral, Florida picked up an unexpected image during a Titan missile launch. The object appeared in the telescope's field of view for approximately four seconds and moved vertically. Military analysts initially noted the sighting as unidentified.

After careful investigation, however, the U.S. Air Force concluded that the image was not a UFO at all, but rather a star. The star in question was Gamma Piscium, one of the brighter stars visible in the night sky. Investigators determined this by comparing the object's position and timing with known star charts and noting that the star's location matched precisely where the telescopic image appeared.

The image was seen only on film from one tracking camera at Patrick Air Force Base and was not detected by radar or other sensors monitoring the missile. This fact supported the star theory, since a physical object near the missile would have shown up on multiple tracking systems. Analysts also calculated that a stationary star would naturally appear to move as the tracking telescope followed the missile's trajectory, creating the illusion of vertical motion.

The investigators noted that this kind of confusion was unusual precisely because it was unlikely to occur. The telescope's field of view was small, and the odds of its beam crossing a star during missile tracking were very low. The apparent phenomenon happened because of a rare combination of circumstances: the telescope happened to be moving slowly at the precise moment its narrow field of view aligned with the star.

The full case file, comprising 34 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.