Miamisburg, OhioJanuary 1961

Unidentified

Summary

# Summary

On a January night in 1961, a resident of Miamisburg, Ohio saw what appeared to be a star-like light moving slowly across the sky. When the object moved, the witness noticed a tail trailing behind it. The light moved diagonally at a very slow speed and changed colors, shifting from brilliant blue to bluish-green.

The sighting lasted a short time. The sky was clear with stars visible, and there was no moonlight. The object appeared as a bright light, brighter than the brightest stars, and did not flicker or change shape during the observation.

The Air Force's investigating officers noted that the planet Mars was exceptionally bright at that time of year and was known to change colors when observed from Earth. They also found that a temperature inversion (a layer of warm air trapping cooler air below it) was present over the Miamisburg area during the sighting. The officers concluded it was very probable that atmospheric refraction (the bending of light by layers of air at different temperatures) was a contributing factor to what the witness saw. The Air Force marked the case as unidentified, though their comments suggest they believed Mars was the likely explanation.

The full case file, as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below across 9 pages.

Reported location

Miamisburg, Ohio

Date of incident

January 1961

State / country

OH / US

Page count

9 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 9

View transcribed text

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PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
1. DATE | 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
|
% 2 | Z 0 Yes Balloon
Q val ol | ideamisburg, Ohio a igi 414 oe Hh
3. DATE-TIME GROUP | 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION did on boii
2005 i 0 Was Aircraft
"od © -’ J » &
Loeal V2 | 8 Ground-Visual 8 Ground-Redar 0 Probably Aircraft
GMT 1001002 Jan 61 e | a AirVisual O Air-Intercept Rader | Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS SOURCE 00 Was Astronomical MARS
’ O Yes ¥ Probobly Astronomical
8 No Civilian 0 Possibly Astronomical
i 7. LENGTH OF O35ZRVATION | 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE I TI misrnio china
| | 0 Insufficient Date for Evaluation
a | 0 Unrkrown
le) BE Be : y am A
CVU Yulia k : 1 Le up and down a
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Ub ject aupeared as a [1 COMMENTSThe planet Mars is very bright
star-like light. When it moved, a tail was this time of year, and it is observed +c
apparent behind it. Moved diegonally, very change colors. The magnitude of Mars is
slowly, Brilliant blue changing at times to -1.2. There was a temperature inversion
cluish-greea. over this area during the time of the
sighting, It is very probable that stmos
pheric refraction was contr itbuting factc
to this sighting. :
] ATIC FORM 329 (REV 25 SEP 52)
4 RRS AR RET Bi re ed ;

/ 9

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28990842