Madison, WisconsinAugust 1960

# Summary

On August 12, 1960, a civilian observer in Madison, Wisconsin reported seeing a bright white light moving south across the sky. The witness watched the object for about 15 minutes before it disappeared.

The Air Force received a report of the sighting but found the description vague and difficult to evaluate. The witness described the light as bright and white, and said it moved in a southward direction, but provided few other concrete details about the object's size, speed, or altitude.

Air Force investigators compared the sighting to two astronomical possibilities. The star Regulus was visible in the night sky that evening, but calculations showed it had set two hours before the reported sighting and was well below the horizon by the time the witness observed the object. Additionally, the object's movement direction did not match where Regulus would have been. The investigators also considered whether the object might have been a weather balloon, since one had been launched in the area, but it was not released until six hours after the sighting.

The Air Force concluded that the available data was insufficient for a definitive evaluation. However, investigators noted that the incomplete information and timing discrepancies suggested the witness may have misidentified a known object or made errors in recording the time and direction of the sighting.

The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives across 7 pages.