E of Buffalo, New YorkDecember 1960

Unidentified

Summary

In late December 1960, a civilian observer east of Buffalo, New York began seeing a bright light in the evening sky. Over the next two weeks, the object appeared on most clear nights, visible for two to three hours at a time. The observer described it as round, about the size of a pea held at arm's length, and white to blue-white in color. Two blinking red lights appeared on opposite sides of the object. When viewed through binoculars, the object showed a pale green glow around its edges and appeared five to ten times larger and brighter than the North Star.

The object seemed to rotate slowly, turning from left to right in circular motions. It moved gradually toward the south and then toward the west before disappearing. The observer first notified the Air Force on January 5, 1961 (1910 EST). Military personnel from Niagara Falls Municipal Airport went to the sighting location on January 6 and used optical equipment including transits (surveying instruments used to measure angles and directions) to track the object. They photographed it with a 4x5 Speed Graphic camera on that night and again on January 9.

The investigating officers found that when they photographed the object on high-speed film under clear skies on January 9, the photographs showed only the star pattern and the track of the planet Venus. The radar scans conducted by the 26th Air Division found no unknown objects during the sighting period. Because Venus was extraordinarily bright during this period (magnitude negative 3.8, meaning it appeared much closer and more brilliant than it actually was), and because the sighting ended exactly when Venus set, the Air Force concluded the object was probably the planet Venus, magnified and brightened by atmospheric haze.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives, 29 pages.

Reported location

E of Buffalo, New York

Date of incident

December 1960

State / country

NY / US

Page count

29 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

rR VY a | ¥. | JECT 10073 RECORD CARD | 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS | | 26 Dec 60 to 9 Jan 51 E of Buffalo, New York 8 Probably Belloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon CHR ers nae B Ground-Visual 0 Ground-Redar - Probobly Aircraft CMT 26/24007 Dec 60 B Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar 0 Possibly Aircraft 5. PHOTOS » SOURCE 0] Ro Agvnenied Venus g R 3] A i fg | Military and Civilian § Rol) Aoary 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION | 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE “lo i ———— 2-3 hrs each night | O Insufficient Data for Evaluation varied | one rotating to SW |B Unknown | 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS Round, white to blue-white, size of p=a at arms Investigating officer and other personnel length. Blinking red light on cach sidecf visited place of sighting and photographe object. Turned around in cireular motion, from [the object. Also used transits to track Left to right, Moved gradually to the S, then object. Photos reported to show nothing f went to the W as it disappeared. but track of Venus and surrounding stars. | Check indicates that Venus is of a mag -3.8 during time these sightings were made--s0 bright it appears much closer +! : it actually is. Observations ceased at 5 } 2000 EST, the time when Venus set, It is | concluded that the object observed was probably the planet Venus. 3 ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SRP $2)