"Sky & Telescope," by Sky Publishing Corp., Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. 02138. Monthly magazine, 60 cents per copy. "Weather elements," by Blair, published Prentice Hall. chapter on often misidentified weather phenomena.

Has an excellent

"Planets, Stars, and Space," by Chamberlain, Joseph M. and Nicholson, Thomas D. An illustrated, nontechnical explanation of the earth, planets, stars, and the universe. Prepared in cooperation with the American Museum of Natural History.

"Junior Science Book of Stars," by Crosby, Phoebe. An easy-to-read, exciting story of what scientists know about the stars, planets, the moon, and the Milky Way.

"Challenge of the Universe," by Hynek, J. Allen, and Anderson, Norman. Discusses the nature of the universe; astronomy, and cosmology, published by the Scholastic Press.

"The Story of the Stars," by Maloney, Terry. An introduction to the universe; our solar system, our galaxy, and other galaxies. Many interesting illustrated analogies help build concepts of size and distance. Includes references to the Van Allen radiation belts and zodiacal light observation of 1960.

"The World of Flying Saucers," by Menzel and Boyd. A scientific examination of the classic UFO reports.

"The Moon, Meteorites, and Comets, dated 1963, by Middlehurst and Kuiper. Continuous analysis of Soviet moon photos. Chapter on Siberian meteorite and photos or comets computation of various comet orbital photos.

"The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air," by Minneart, Dover Publications. This is an excellent paperback written in understandable lay language. "Meteors," by Olivier. Standard text by foremost authority on meteors. "Photographic History of Mars," 1905-61, by Slipher, E. C., published by Lowell Observatory.

"Anatomy of a Phenomenon," by Valle, Jacques.
"First Man to the Moon," by Von Braun, Wernher.

Total UFO (object) sightings (compiled Jan. 17, 1966)

60-929-66-pt. 28

FIREBALL REPORT

Persons observing a fireball or meteor should report the information to the American Meteor Society. The information desired is contained below.

A very brilliant meteor or fireball is reported to have passed in your vicinity on *** at the hour of 4 ***. Will you please answer as fully as possible the following questions, which are asked on behalf of the American Meteor Society in order that permanent records of such phenomena may be obtained. When these reports are published each contributor whose report is fairly complete will be mentioned, if possible, and due credit given. It is only by the help of those who can give personal information that data can be secured for the computation of the orbits of meteors. These data are of great scientific value and all reasonable efforts should be made to obtain them. You will be unable probably to answer all questions below, but answer those you can, as they may be of the greatest importance.

(1) Give your name and address.

(2) Where were you when you saw the meteor? (If the town is small please give county as well.)

(3) Give the date, hour, and minute when the meteor appeared; also kind of time used.

(4) In what direction did it appear (or in what direction was it first seen)? This is not asking in what direction it was going.

(5) In what direction did it disappear (or in what direction was it last seen) ? For questions 4 and 5, simply N, E, S, or W is not accurate enough, unless these were the exact directions. If compass is used, state it; also if magnetic correction has been applied to compass reading.

(6) At what height did it appear?

(Use degrees in answering.)

(7) At what height did it disappear? (Use degrees in answering.) (8) Did it pass directly overhead (i.e., through the zenith) ?

(9) If not, to which side of the zenith did it go, and how far from it? (Use degrees in answering.)

(10) Did it appear to reach the horizon? What sort of a horizon have you? (11) What angle did the path of the meteor make with the horizon and in which direction was it then going?

(12) If you are familiar with constellations describe the path of the meteor through the sky with reference to stars.

(13) Did the meteor appear to explode?

(14) What was the duration of its flight in seconds?

(15) Describe the train if one was left. If it lasted long enough to show drift, most carefully tell in what direction train drifted. Give sketch, if possible, showing this with regard to horizon.

(16) What was the duration of the train in seconds?

(17) Did you hear any sound? How long after seeing the meteor was it before you heard this sound? Did you hear an actual explosion? How long after seeing the explosion was it before you heard it?

(18) Of what color was the meteor?

(19) What was the size of the meteor? (Compare it with the Moon or with a planet or star.)

(20) Was more than one body seen before the explosion (if any)?

(21) What was condition of sky at time?

(22) Give names and addresses of others who saw the meteor.

(23) Please mail this reply to: Charles P. Oliver, American Meteor Society, 521 North Wynnewood Avenue, Narberth, Pa.

SPECIAL REPORT OF THE USAF SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD AD HOC COMMITTEE TO REVIEW PROJECT "BLUE BOOK” MARCH 1966

Members participating: Dr. Brian O'Brien (Chairman), Dr. Launor F. Carter, Mr. Jesse Orlansky, Dr. Richard Porter, Dr. Carl Sagan, and Dr. Willis H. Ware.

SAB Secretariat: Lt. Col. Harold A. Steiner.

I. INTRODUCTION

As requested in a memorandum from Maj. Gen. E. B. LeBailly, Secretary of the Air Force Office of Information, dated September 28, 1965 (tab A), an SAB Ad Hoc Committee met on February 3, 1966, to review Project "Blue Book."

The objectives of the Committee are to review the resources and methods of investigation prescribed by Project "Blue Book" and to advise the Air Force of any improvements that can be made in the program to enhance the Air Force's capability in carrying out its responsibility.

In order to bring themselves up to date, the members of the Committee initially reviewed the findings of previous scientific panels charged with looking into the UFO problem. Particular attention was given to the report of the Robertson panel which was rendered in January 1953. The Committee next heard briefings from the AFSC Foreign Technology Division, which is the cognizant Air Force agency that collates information on UFO sightings and monitors investigations of individual cases. Finally, the Committee reviewed selected case histories of UFO sightings with particular emphasis on those that have not been identified.

II. DISCUSSION

Although about 6 percent (646) of all sightings (10,147) in the years 1947 through 1965 are listed by the Air Force as "Unidentified," it appears to the Committee that most of the cases so listed are simply those in which the information available does not provide an adequate basis for analysis. In this connection it is important also to note that no unidentified objects other than those of an astronomical nature have ever been observed during routine astronomical studies, in spite of the large number of observing hours which have been devoted to the sky. As examples of this the Palomar Observatory Sky Atlas contains some 5,000 plates made with large instruments with wide field of view; the Harvard Meteor project of 1954-58 provided some 3,300 hours of observation; the Smithsonian Visual Prairie Network provided 2,500 observing hours. Not a single unidentified object has been reported as appearing on any of these plates or been sighted visually in all these observations.

The Committee concluded that in the 19 years since the first UFO was sighted there has been no evidence that unidentified flying objects are a threat to our national security. Having arrived at this conclusion the Committee then turned its attention to considering how the Air Force should handle the scientific aspects of the UFO problem. Unavoidably these are also related to Air Force public relations, a subject on which the Committee is not expert. Thus the recommendations which follow are made simply from the scientific point of view.

III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

It is the opinion of the Committee that the present Air Force program dealing with UFO sightings has been well organized, although the resources assigned to it (only one officer, a sergeant, and secretary) have been quite limited. In 19 years and more than 10,000 sightings recorded and classified, there appears to be no verified and fully satisfactory evidence of any case that is clearly outside the framework of presently known science and technology. Nevertheless, there is always the possibility that analysis of new sightings may provide some additions to scientific knowledge of value to the Air Force. Moreover, some of the case records which the Committee looked that were listed as "identified" were sightings where the evidence collected was too meager or too indefinite to permit positive listing in the identified category. Because of this the Committee recommends that the present program be strengthened to provide opportunity for scientific investigation of selected sightings in more detail and depth than has been possible to date.

To accomplish this it is recommended that:

A. Contracts be negotiated with a few selected universities to provide scientific teams to investigate promptly and in depth certain selected sightings of UFO's. Each team should include at least one psychologist, preferably one interested in clinical psychology, and at least one physical scientist, preferably an astronomer or geophysicist familiar with atmospheric physics. The universities should be chosen to provide good geographical distribution, and should be within convenient distance of a base of the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC).

B. At each AFSC base an officer skilled in investigation (but not necessarily with scientific training) should be designed to work with the corresponding university team for that geographical section. The local representative of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) might be a logical choice for this.