Italy, September 1960September 1960

Insufficient Data

Summary

On September 26, 1960, someone in Italy photographed round objects in the sky and sent the pictures to NASA. The photographer said the objects were about 15 meters (roughly 50 feet) in diameter. He had used a camera with specific technical settings: a shutter speed of 6.5, an exposure time of 1/250 of a second, and focused on infinity (meaning the camera was set for distant objects).

The Air Force sent the photographs to its photo analysis unit for study. The analysts found several problems. The objects appeared out of focus, which could mean they were either very small and close to the camera or moving very fast. More troubling, the objects looked much darker on the prints than other dark areas in the same photos. This raised the possibility that someone had retouched (altered) the negative or the original print. When the analysts compared two prints, the objects appeared larger in one than in the other. At first this suggested they were closer to the camera in that image. But other objects in the same prints also grew larger, indicating the camera itself had simply moved closer to its background. In one print, the background looked overexposed (too bright), yet the mysterious objects remained just as dark as before. This inconsistency suggested deliberate manipulation.

The Air Force concluded the photographs were probably a hoax. The analysts noted they had too little information to reach any other valid conclusion and recommended obtaining the original negatives and more details about how the pictures were taken. The file lists the source as unreliable.

The full case file, consisting of 12 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Italy, September 1960

Date of incident

September 1960

State / country

? / XX

Page count

12 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 40

¥ ae PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD Fo .OATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS ~~ | 0 Woes Bolloo | 26 Sep 60 Italy 0 Probably Bolloon 3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION hs ots, me ] OCR. RRR B Ground- Visual "DO Ground-Reder 5 Brabois Arereh X GMT 26/13002 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aireroft 5. PHOTOS - SOURCE O Wes Astronomical £ B 0 Probably A micol : a hig | Civilian § (s] Pessilily Aeaant ooh | 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE 8 Omer FTOD Hoax, § 0 Insufficient Dato for Evaluation { P a three cm- 4 {DO Unknown | k Bl i id a ais tn ers mimesis umaevasesae] | ; 10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 1). COMMENTS | i Photos taken on 9-26-60 at 1400. Shape was Too little information to allow valid 4 round, about 15 meters in diameter. Photo- conclusion. Photo analysts state: objectp | ; graphed with a shutter of 6.5, time 1/250, either very small and close to camera or| | distance infinite. moving rapidly due to their being out of| | focus. Due to objects being much darker than other k areas, negative or original print was 3 possibly retouched. In one print, objects size in- creased, inflicating they were closer to camera than in other print. However, other objects in print also increased in size, indicating that camera was moved toward bac ound. Also in this print background appears overexposed, but objects are Just as dark. / Probably result of someone attempting a hoax. | / ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52) / / A ) %