N of Spring Brook and Tioga, North DakotaMarch 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On March 1, 1961, around 8:50 p.m. local time, a white circular object was reported north of Spring Brook and Tioga, North Dakota. It was reported by a civilian farmer and the chief of police of Tioga, with multiple reports from the general area. The object was seen for about 15 to 20 minutes while descending.

The object attracted attention because of its brightness and was the size of a nickel held at arm's length. It appeared low on the horizon in the northwest and disappeared below the horizon after 15 to 20 minutes. It moved north and south and slightly westerly. The sky was overcast. A previous report on March 1 was noted as the same object.

The Air Force card states the object was probably the planet Venus, which had a brightness of -4.3. It notes the time and direction matched Venus, that atmospheric refraction probably caused distortion and apparent motion, and that the sighting coincided with the setting of the planet.

Reported location

N of Spring Brook and Tioga, North Dakota

Date of incident

March 1961

State / country

ND / US

Page count

4 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 4

View transcribed text

| oen PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD +. |
| 1. DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS
: N of Spring Brook and & Wes Sutiown |
| 1 Mar 61 Tioga, North Dakata O Probably Balloon |
3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Belleon
RTI is ® Ground- Vi sual O Ground-Reder 8 def PA |
omT___ 0202502 0Z ; ' 0 Air Visual O Air-Intercept Radar DO Possibly Aircraft :
5. PHOTOS . SOURCE BO Was Menenemied VENUS
QO Yes XX Probably Astronomical
‘ X No Civilian and Military D Possibly Astronomical |
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION " NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE CA RAR ey
: O Insufficient Dato for Evaluation
0 Unknown
15-20 min 1 Descending
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING White circular object. |!) COMMENTSUDjt was probably Planet Venus |
Attracted attention of observer because of Time of sighting was in direction of Verus.|
brightness. Appeared on horizon in NW and Venus had mag of -4.3. Atmospheric re- |
disappeared below horizon after 15-20 min. fraction probably caused distortion and
Moved N and S. Multiple reports fim general arpa.geve apparent motion to objt. Sighting
coincided with setting of planet.
; 4 \ ‘ iE pe |
: ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2) .
; p
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aT ILE EE PTE re!

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991664