Guard Island (vicinity Ketchikan), March 1961March 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On March 13, 1961, an object was reported near Guard Island, in the vicinity of Ketchikan, Alaska, about 6:10 a.m. GMT. The object was brilliant white and circular, between a grapefruit and a basketball in apparent size. Its color went from a brilliant white light to other shades. It moved slowly along its flight path.

On Project 10073, the Air Force's official record for unidentified flying object reports, the conclusion was probably astronomical. The comments said the slow movement and flight path were characteristic of an astronomical body, and the star Capella was in position to match the sighting.

Reported location

Guard Island (vicinity Ketchikan), March 1961

Date of incident

March 1961

State / country

? / XX

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

;
a PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD | :
~ [1 oate 2. LOCATION jie CONCLUSIONS | .
: y Was Balloo pt
i © 13 Mar 61 Guard Island (vicinity Ketchikan) E Probably Belloon :
. |3 DATETIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION Alaska Ne | :
: 4 LET NE — XX Ground- Vi sual 0 Ground-Rodar a Prabobly Airerafy | 3
GMT 1406102 O Air Visual 0 Air-Intercspt Radar |= Possibly Arerafh ph
| |5"PHOTOS + SOURCE iE 0 Was Astronomical (Hv LULA | :
a Yes 0 Probably Astronomical FE
0 No Military E Possibly Astronomical | s
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BDI iii insiiitiaciomse,
4 : | | - 1h oo gl Dota for Evaluation
: nk no wn
© [10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Brilliant white, circulaptl. COMMENTSSlow movement and flight path | 3
i objt, between grapefruit and basketball in of objt is characteristic of an astro- al
. size. Color: fm a brilliant white light to a | nomical body. Star Capella was in position |
; fierce orange color to a brilliant green-bluejreported for objt, and this star is a | :
] as a large electric arc, then objt disappearefibright lst magnitude star. Changing of |
] When sighted angle of elevation estimated 60°|Lcolors was probably due to clouds and/o
4 15° when disappeared. Objt moved at very slow| water spray which is prevalent around |
4 velocity in a straight line. Opjt disappeared] large number of islands in this area, argd
Ek with a brilliant green flash. witich would break up light into differe
d colors. |
] ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) |
4 |
1 %

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991844