Dayton, OhioFebruary 1959

On the evening of February 18, 1959, in Dayton, Ohio, a woman spotted an unusual object in the night sky that resembled a bright star. The object was round, with red and blue coloring, and appeared to move from side to side as she watched it. After observing it for about one hour through binoculars, she noticed the object seemed smaller but still varied in color and appeared to have small bumps or protrusions on its surface.

The observer's curiosity was piqued mainly by her son, who wanted to know what the object could be. When the Air Force checked astronomical charts for the time and location of the sighting, they found that the star Sirius appeared in the exact position the witness had reported. The sighting characteristics, including the object's starlike appearance, its colored light, and the way it seemed to move, are consistent with viewing a bright star through an unstable atmosphere or through optical distortion caused by heat and air currents.

The file notes that the observer initially believed she was looking at a star, which aligns with the astronomical identification. No definitive conclusion appears in the case file, although the evidence points toward a celestial explanation rather than an unknown aerial phenomenon. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, consisting of 20 pages.