Project Blue Book Case File
Port Austin, Mich., February 1953February 1953
Summary
On February 17, 1953, military personnel at Port Austin, Michigan, witnessed something unusual in the night sky. At 10:04 p.m. (2204 EST), two officers and an airman spotted a glowing object moving slowly to the south, about 8 to 10 miles northwest of their radar station. The object was brighter than any star and, oddly, kept changing color from red to pink to pale white and back again. After five minutes of watching it fade gradually into darkness, they decided to try tracking it on their search radar.
Within four minutes, they had a target on their scope. The radar showed an object moving on a course of 180 degrees at 55 knots, fairly slow for an aircraft. The radar operators tracked it for 17 minutes as it stayed about 9 miles away from the station at a steady heading. Using standard radar calibration methods, they estimated the object's altitude at roughly 1,000 feet. The radar signal was clear and steady, showing no signs of the electronic noise or interference that might come from a faulty system.
The station contacted nearby air defense centers, queried other radar stations in the region, and checked flight plan records. Nothing turned up. No known aircraft were in the area that night. The weather was clear, visibility unlimited, and no unusual weather patterns were occurring. The radar equipment, they verified, was working perfectly with no mechanical problems or interference from outside sources.
The Air Force report on this sighting would eventually make a surprising admission. The investigators noted that the planet Venus was indeed visible low on the northwestern horizon that time of year and could have explained what the eyewitnesses saw. But as they wrote in their analysis, Venus will not show up on a radar scope. The case awaited further study, including a check of weather charts for the area and date. Until that analysis arrived, the report said, the case would remain unknown.
This case file remains on file at the National Archives in 38 pages as microfilm T1206, Roll 17.
Reported location
Port Austin, Mich., February 1953
Date of incident
February 1953
State / country
? / XX
Page count
38 scanned pages
USAF evaluation
unknown
Microfilm
T1206, Roll 17