Rome, New YorkDecember 1953

Unidentified

Summary

On December 11, 1953, four civilian witnesses in Rome, New York, observed a bright ball of light moving from east to west across the sky. The object brightened and then faded out. The sighting lasted only about five seconds. No photographs or physical evidence was collected.

The Air Force's conclusion was straightforward. A local astronomer agreed with the initial assessment and confirmed the object was a meteor, a piece of rocky material from space that burns up in Earth's atmosphere. The case file also includes observations of other meteor sightings reported by ship officers in the Gulf of Mexico on December 12 and in the Caribbean Sea on December 13, 1953, collected as part of a broader coordinated effort by the Air Force to document such events.

The full case file, comprising 7 pages, is reproduced below as held by the National Archives.

Reported location

Rome, New York

Date of incident

December 1953

State / country

NY / US

Page count

7 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unidentified

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 20

1. CATE - TIME GROUP . 2. LOCATION 11 Pec 53 12/00507 Rome, New York | 3. SOURCE 10. CONCLUSION civilians ASTRONOMICAL: METEOR 4. NUMBER OF OBJECTS Local estronomer agrees that it was meteor. : one 5. LENGTH OF OBSERVATION [1]. BRIEF SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS 5 sec Bright ball of light observed by four persons. Moving cast to west, brightened then faded out. ; | 2 LOLLLIIC LOWS ‘ ; 7. COURSE st 8. PHOTOS O Yes (x Ne 9. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE 0 Yes 0 Ne FORM a FTD ser 63 0-329 (TDE) previews editions of this form may bo uood.