Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, April 1958April 1958

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the evening of April 13, 1958, a driver near Hamilton, Ontario, Canada saw a brilliant object light up the sky as he was traveling at 50 miles per hour. The object was blue-white in color and left a white smoke trail behind it. It moved in a straight line across the sky, visible for only a few seconds, and burned with enough intensity that the witness said the surrounding area lit up as bright as day.

The witness reported his sighting to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in May 1958. A Naval Research Laboratory official replied that while the observer might have seen a meteor, the laboratory had confirmed that the Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 had re-entered Earth's atmosphere and broken apart on April 13, 1958, the same day as the sighting.

The Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Center reviewed the case and concluded that the object had all the typical characteristics of a bolide, or extremely bright meteor. The center noted that the witness's detailed description, particularly the "red glowing space" at the head of the object and the fact that the area around him lit up "bright as day," were classic signs of a true fireball. The center also observed that a large number of similar bolides had been reported throughout the United States during the nine months prior to this sighting. The Air Force classified this case as an astronomical phenomenon.

The complete case file, consisting of 9 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, April 1958

Date of incident

April 1958

State / country

? / XX

Page count

9 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 32

i 3 b fi E : : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD : fi ee br Ah. Al SC SAA AA ete AEE te A A P| BOA nt See ¢ 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS E { 0 Was Balloon § 18 Apr 58 Hamilton. Ontario. Canada {0 Probably Balloon § | 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION HED PEE E: ie th - 3% 0 Was Aircraft P Fecal lt niin be 8 ad EE bel ed (Q Ground- Visual 0 Ground-Radar le Prabal At erat | P SMe LY 708307. 0 Air-Visual O Air-Intercept Radar | D5 Possibly Aircraft 3 5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE Q:- Was Astronomical ator . 0 Yes 0 Probably Astronomical ~~ 2G MNo Civilian CC Possibly Astronomical EE 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BiH OF he priser revi i pli Pe 0 Insufficient Data for Evaluation b 0 Unknown fo seconds one AEE § 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS | Ee right firey obj lit up place bright Obj has all characteristics of rd { as day. Observed fm car moving 50 mphl a meteor, and the case is considers ta Obj in straight flight at meteor speed // to he an astro sighting of a |g in sight for few seconds. Blue white meteor, LE color with ¥hite smoke trailing. Obj i seemed to be hot enough tp burn up, 1 5. BE | = = ATIC FORM 12% (REV 26 SEP 52) : i e og . :