Miamisburg, OhioDecember 1962

Insufficient Data

Summary

On December 28, 1962, two high school girls in Miamisburg, Ohio sighted an object in the eastern sky at 3:30 a.m. The object was brighter than a star and appeared to move around, go up and down. The witnesses described it as moving from north to south. The Air Force investigator noted the object was much brighter than Venus and exhibited scintillation. The object appeared to move around, go up and down with reference to some arbitrary position. The investigators identified Venus, Arcturus, and Spica as bright celestial bodies visible at that time and location. A temperature inversion at 7-8 degrees Fahrenheit to 6-700 feet and another inversion at 4 degrees between 10,000 and 10,400 feet was noted as possibly contributing to the unusual appearance. The Air Force concluded the sighting was most likely caused by Venus.

Reported location

Miamisburg, Ohio

Date of incident

December 1962

State / country

OH / US

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 47

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE
28 December 1962

3. DATE-TIME GROUP
Local
DAY 28/0800Z

5. PHOTOS
Yes
No

7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION
not rptd

2. LOCATION
Miamisburg, Ohio

4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION
Ground-Visual
Air-Visual
Ground-Radar
Air-Intercept-Radar

6. SOURCE
Civilian

8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS
one

12. CONCLUSIONS
Was Balloon
Probably Balloon
Possibly Balloon
Was Aircraft
Probably Aircraft
Possibly Aircraft
Was Astronomical Venus
Probably Astronomical
Possibly Astronomical
Other
Insufficient Date for Evaluation
Unknown

9. COURSE
random

10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING
Two high school girls sighted obj in East going in N to South. Brighter than star appeared to scintillate. Obj appeared to move around, go up and down.

11. COMMENTS
Venus 15.38 on Ecliptic, just rising. Arcturus at 20 dgr elev & Spica at 6 dgr elev in East. These three astro bodies were the brightest in the Eastern sky at the time. There was a temperature inversion of 7-8 dgr F to 6-700ft and another of 4 dgr between 10,000 & 10,400 ft probably contributing to the unusual appearance. Most likely culprit was Venus.

ATIC FORM 329 (REV 28 SEP 52)

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 29000048