Dayton, OhioFebruary 1961

Unidentified

Summary

On the evening of February 8, 1961, a resident of Dayton, Ohio reported seeing a bright, shiny object in the night sky. The witness described it as resembling a large spotlight, roughly three times the size of an automobile headlight. The object appeared 90 degrees from true north and 60 degrees above the horizon. It showed no motion during the sighting.

The witness completed a detailed Air Force questionnaire about the observation. According to the form, the object appeared stationary and did not speed up, break apart, give off smoke, or change brightness. The witness indicated the object disappeared while being watched, though the specific manner of disappearance is unclear in the OCR text. When asked what common object it resembled, the witness wrote "large spotlight."

The Air Force analyst who reviewed this case concluded it was probably the star Aldebaran, a bright star located in the western sky near the position the witness reported. The analyst noted that several bright stars were visible in the southwest at the time, and that Mars, which is very bright and reddish, was also observed nearly overhead in that direction. The file states there had been a number of calls to newspapers and other agencies prior to this sighting, but those earlier reports did not match the time and elevation details of this particular observation.

The full case file, comprising 9 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Dayton, Ohio

Date of incident

February 1961

State / country

OH / US

Page count

9 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 9

View transcribed text

E bl PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD , |
1 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
] 8 Feb 61 Dayton, Ohio D Probably Belles
| 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION ST I, STN
aL Xo ——— B Ground- Visual ~ O Ground-Rador a Fioony Rrerets
§ GMT 090230Z Q Air Visuol O Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS ; . SOURCE a Was Astronomical ALDEBA : |
a Yes Probably Astronomical !
No Civilian : ODO Possibly Astronemiecel *
| 7. LENGTH OF. OBSERVATION f NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BT
: O Insufficient Dete for Evaluation
0 Unknown
| O_Min. F 9 Stationa |
| 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Shiny bright objt with |). COMMENTS Tf reported elevation is right
appearance of a large spotlight. No motion. objt was probably first magnitude star
| 3 About 3 times size of an automobile headlight. Aldebaran. There was a number of calls
| 3 Appeared 90° fm true N, 60° fm horizon. made to newspapers and other agencies
| 3 prior to this sighting, however due to {ime
: and reported elevation they were not
| same obJjt as in this report. Planet Mars |
was observed in SW almost overhead by
i analyst and it was very bright and red.
| There was a number of bright stars in
SW at this time. Aldebaran was to W and
] about position reported by witness.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
Ed /
: RE
? |
: SRE Re BR Gh a ha : 5

/ 9

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991367