Near Guam 13.45N 144.50E, February 1961February 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On February 27, 1961, near Guam, a spherical object was observed by military personnel. The object was white, then turned reddish, and had a trail approximately 30 times its diameter. It was sighted at 300 feet elevation with a magnitude of Venus (4.3). The object moved from 305 degrees, 20 degrees elevation to 300 feet, 40 degrees elevation. The sighting lasted 2 seconds. The observation was made by air visual from a location at 16,000 feet. The object appeared to burn out during the brief sighting. The Air Force considered this a probable satellite reentry.

Reported location

Near Guam 13.45N 144.50E, February 1961

Date of incident

February 1961

State / country

? / XX

Page count

3 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 41

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 3

View transcribed text

PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD

1. DATE                          2. LOCATION                    12. CONCLUSIONS
   27 Feb 61                        Near Guam  13.45N  144.50E    [] Was Balloon
                                                                    [] Probably Balloon
3. DATE-TIME GROUP              4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION          [] Possibly Balloon
   Local                           [] Ground-Visual  [] Ground-Radar
   GMT     27/10092               [X] Air-Visual    [] Air-Intercep Radar  [] Was Aircraft
                                                                    [] Probably Aircraft
5. PHOTOS                       6. SOURCE                       [] Possibly Aircraft
   [] Yes                          Military
   [X] No                          
                                                                    [X] Was Astronomical meteor
7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION        8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS  9. COURSE  [] Probably Astronomical
   2 sec                           1                              [] Possibly Astronomical
                                                                    
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING: Spherical object size of DEFNI, COMMENTS: Duration too short for satellite,
with mag of -1.3 (Venus) white turning to reddish       reentry. Direction not clearly NE.
with trail 30X diameter of M object observed at        Although possible. Object has characteristics
300°Az 40° elev. Moving to 305° Az 20° elev.          of a meteor and case is considered as astro
Where it appeared to burn out. Considered            sighting (Meteor).
satellite reentry.

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28991564