65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_006

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4
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•
t
To :
Lt . Colonel Doyle Rees - Pa;e 3
Subj:
Anomalous Luminous Phenomena (Seventh Repor t)
Nay 23 , 1950
to move horizontally .
However, a strictly vertical infe.11 is also very
rarely observed in the case of genuine meteor fal ls .
3.
An analysis just completed of the time distribution of the s reen
fireballs so far observed permits us to add an 11th iten to the list of
differences given in paragraph 1 above .
The graph of frequency versus
local time which accompanies the presont r eport shov1s that the me.xii-mm
frequency of s igM;ing of green fireballs ( occurring at approxiJ'.1at€l~r
2030) coincides in t i me with neither the frequency maximum for ordinary
meteors ( occurrin:-; at approximately 0300) nor the f r equency ma:{imtun for
meteorite falls (occurrinB at approximately 1600) .
4 .
Inspection of the graph referred -to in paragre.ph 3 also v1ill
show that most of the gr een fireballs have been sir)1ted i n a time i nter­
val extending from about 5 p .m. to 11 p . m. (M31') .
This concentration
might be even more pronounced if it Y1er e possible ·co screen out of the
secondary maximum, around 2 a . m. ( Jl3T) , all ordinary meteors v1Lich have
been mistakenly identified as green fireballs .
That such !'1.iside~tif.ica­
tion has occurred is strongly suggested, by -t;he near coincidence in time
of the secondary maxi:'lum of the green fireballs and. the v,cll established
early mornin~ maximum of the ordinarJ meteors .
5.
Some significance may attach to the fact that t he tir:10 interval
alluded to in parae;r o.ph 4 extends from about 7 a .m. to l p .m. in the Ural
rcg;ion of the USSR.
Since missiles movine; YJith velocities of ·t;he order
of those found for the green fi r eballs for which real path detcrmino.tions
have been possible would travel f rom the southern Urals to rfow Mexico 'in
less than 15 minutes , a possible intcrprotation of the concentration of
sightings rcrerred to i n para~rapn 4 is that tho ~reon fireballs r esult
from guided missiles l aunched f rom basos in the Urals in tho mor nin3
hours befor e cloudiness due to convection or blin<linG afternoon dust
storms ca.n interfere v,ith non- radar tracking , such as has been used by
the Optical Trajectory Section at Uhite Sands Proving Ground .
6 .
Ther e is also a pronounced concentration of ~roen fireball
incidents on the four days , i"r iday, Saturday, Sunday , Monday , almost
all of the most widely observed incidents having occurred on Saturday
or Sunday .
7.
It is a cur ious and fairly well- established fact that there
has been a distinct decline in the number of green fireball sightins s
during the last two months , v,ithin which the number of so- called
11 f ly­
ing saucer
11 incidents in this region :'las attained an all- time high .
8.
Although I have r ecently r eceived from Dr . Joseph Kaplan of ·Ghe
Scientific Advisory Board a letter containing thE: sto.tem-::1t "l'rank ly , I
don ' t knoY1 of any U. S . experi:ncnts that would rosult in the a ppcc,rt>.ncc
of these unconventional objects , and neither docs Von Karman".
I still