N Of Deadwood, S.D., January 1959January 1959

Insufficient Data

Summary

On January 16, 1959, civilian witnesses north of Deadwood, South Dakota, and at Mount Coolidge in Custer Park reported an object in the night sky. The sightings were about 6:30 p.m. and 6:37 p.m. local time (0030 and 0037 GMT) and lasted about 15 minutes. One witness was a forest ranger and the other a park lookout.

They described one object about the size of a baseball, flickering like a flare, with no sound. It was about 15 degrees above the ground and moved very slowly to the west before disappearing behind clouds. One observer set a true bearing of 240 degrees, and the object varied in position only about half a degree the whole time. It appeared to be in the outer atmosphere and seemed to be tumbling, like a satellite.

The Air Force concluded the case was astronomical. The record card said a check with a star chart showed the first magnitude star Fomalhaut in the exact location given, and that clouds would give the illusion of movement.

Reported location

N Of Deadwood, S.D., January 1959

Date of incident

January 1959

State / country

? / XX

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 35

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

|
2 : PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD
. . |
1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
IN of Deadwood, S.D. and O Wes Bal
3 s aha as Balloon
16 Jan 59 Mt Coolige, Custer Park, S.D. O Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION W TORU Wen
loco | OGewdVisd  OGrundReder [g pos hierstt
oMT_L17/0030 and 00372 0 MEVESHIATS 0 Airintercept Rader [0 Possibly Aireroft
DTO! ol - ££ Was Astronomical T'ori81 haut
O Probably Astronomical
Civilian O Possibly Astronomical
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE BOR ensapengpenmegstm—
Ss rd Dete for Evaluation
15 mins one Wiest pen
BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING Tl. COMMENTS /
Obj, ,size of baseball, flickering like a A check with the division astronompr
_ +} flare. Jbj varied in position only 1/2° and a star chart shows the lst mag-,
during the time it was obsorved. Obj appeare nitude star Fomalhaut to be in the
to be in outer atmosphere and to be exact location given by observers.
turbling. Clouds would give the illusion of
novement.
ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2) /
. / .
. ? § B
Ay
d SRE ma A seat ns Se eid AT EE i ;

/ 3

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28981749