Over Cincinnati, OhioDecember 1957

Unidentified

Summary

On December 5-10, 1957, observers in Cincinnati, Ohio reported seeing a bright white light moving across the sky. The object was described as being as bright as the moon and made no sound as it descended toward the horizon before disappearing from view. The sighting lasted only 2 to 3 seconds. One observer had what was described as a photo of the sighting.

The Air Force investigation examined whether the object might be a meteor, balloon, aircraft, or astronomical phenomenon. The file notes that in December 1957, Earth was passing through the Geminid meteor shower, when meteors apparently radiate from the constellation of Gemini. A Science News Letter clipping included in the case file describes the shower and other December astronomy events in detail.

Based on the available evidence, the Air Force concluded the sighting was most likely astronomical in nature, specifically suggesting it was a meteor. The case was marked "unidentified" in the official evaluation, though the summary indicated a probable meteor explanation. The full case file of 15 pages is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Over Cincinnati, Ohio

Date of incident

December 1957

State / country

OH / US

Page count

15 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 31

~ fey PROJECT 10073 RECORD CARD . DATE 2. LOCATION 12. CONCLUSIONS A 4 fie! : ? / DO Was Balloon 4 December 1957 ver Cincinnati, Ohio O Probably Balloon - | "3. DATE-TIME GROUP 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION 8 Possibly Baliesn CE CATA Se Bg RTE O Ground-Redar 8 Brkahs Arora CMT 04/23597 O Air Visual 0 Air-Intercept Radar |O Possibly Aircraft 5. PHOTOS + SOUR BG; xWas Astronomical Meteor 0 Yes O Probably Astronomical Ne “ivilian O Possibly Astronomical 7. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS | 9. COURSE EY: Ohya oi aii a iy e auth sien) Dota for Evaluation nknown 2-3 seconds one East 10. BRIER SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS | White light, bright as the moon. No Probably a meteor -- Earth now sound, descending toward horizon and entering Geminids meteor shower, just disappeared, ATIC FORM 329 (REV 26 SEP $2) ! . N ‘ 5