Washington, D.C., June 1961June 1961

Insufficient Data

Summary

On the evening of June 13, 1961, a resident of Washington, D.C., reported seeing a light appear from behind the moon and then disappear back behind it. The witness described the object as appearing only as a light, no brighter than the brightest stars, and said it remained visible for about ten to fifteen minutes.

The Air Force investigator concluded that the sighting had been a misidentification of the star Regulus (magnitude 1.3) during a lunar occultation (an event when the moon passes in front of a star) that occurred on June 18, 1961. The witness's description of the light seeming to emerge from and retreat behind the moon matched what would be expected during such an occultation, and the investigator determined that the sighting resulted from this near occultation event. The case was marked as "unknown" in the official evaluation.

The full case file, comprising 10 pages as held by the National Archives, is reproduced below.

Reported location

Washington, D.C., June 1961

Date of incident

June 1961

State / country

? / XX

Page count

10 scanned pages

USAF evaluation

unknown

Microfilm

T1206, Roll 42

Original case file scans

Original case file · scanned by NARAPage 1 of 10

View transcribed text

i
¢ PROJECT 10073 RECCRD CARD
E CR a Lab mE LC Co ————————————— et iaassamant
4 i. DATE & LOCATION is CONCLUSIONS
4 13 Jun 3 | "lashineton DE 0 Was Balloon
; by YR. ; at |O Probably Balloon
- Tr Tg rt ons Ei oy pmo eo IEEE EAL A A CREP OP SSPE > ' B.b
i 3. DATE-TIME GROUP | 4 TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon
: ~r y r ") 3
4 l.ocol LOGoEIT a £.Ground-VYi sual 0 Ground-Radar 0 Was Aircrafy
3 10/000 7 Jun A | a Probably Aircraft
x I CMT Fined A Shs db ERECT = ! ] AirVi wal (®) Air-Intere opt Radar a F o3sibly Aircealr | fF 3 a
E 5. PHOTOS | 8. SOURCE 0. Was AstronomicalitS ulus
y 0 Yes | "Probably Astronomical
4 X53 Ne | Civilian J Possibly Astronomical
: 7. LENGTH OF 033ZRVATION [5 PDAROFONEETE IK oun lo Other...
; | s {0 Insufficient Dora for Evaluation
i 10-15 minutes | one ~bween th po 1 Unknown
3 10, BRIZF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING SRN ET — a RE SE
E Object seemed to appear from behind the This sighting result ¢y the
moon and then disappear back behind the misidentification of t int star
3 oon, Appeared only as a light, degulus (mag l.3) daring the occulatibn
: | wnlch occured on 18 Jun, This was
= occultat 1 {or 1t could only t
3 | lt 1s concluded that the sighting |
3 | resulted from this near occultation, |
E AE a RL DR SL eS RE He A br aN OIA
3 ATIC FORM 329 (22V 28 322 37)
Fd

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Source: National Archives Catalog · NAID 28993155