Green Fireballs , The Best Documented Examples of Unidentified Flying Objects

Green fireballs are a phenomenon first reported in late 1948 , the crew of an Air Force C-47 flying near Las Vegas reported a sighting of a light like a huge green meteor except it arched upwards and then flat instead of downwards ,this sighting was backed up by the report of a civilian air crew who described the light as having a trajectory too low and flat for a meteor, at first abreast and ahead of them but then appearing to come straight at them on a collision course, forcing the pilot to swerve the plane at which time the object appeared full moon size .

The same night about a dozen green balls of light were seen by security guards at military installations in the vicinity of Albuquerque and Las Vegas,the fireballs were observed between 7.30pm to 11.30pm , the sightings at Albuquerque were at Sandia Base ,an atomic weapons research, development base located on the southeastern edge of Albuquerque, New Mexico .
The day after these sightings the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations began an investigation , fearing the fireballs might be a secret Russian espionage program .
AFOSI consulted Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, an astronomer from the University of New Mexico and a world renowned meteor expert who had worked with the military on previous secret projects .

On December 12 1948 LaPaz saw a green fireball for himself over Los Alamos giving him an opportunity to observe the phenomena for himself , In a classified letter to the Air Force on December 20, LaPaz wrote
"the object moved far too slowly to have been a meteor and left no trail of sparks or dust cloud as would be typical of meteors flying at low altitudes. Other anomalous characteristics were the intense lime-green color, low altitude of only 8–10 miles yet exhibiting no sound, flat rather than arced trajectory, and turning on and off like a light switch."

On January 20 1948 the brightest and most widely seen green fireball sighting occurred near Roswell, New Mexico ,La Paz interviewed hundreds of witnesses, with help from the FBI and military intelligence ,after his own sighting and interviewing numerous witnesses, LaPaz had concluded that "green fireballs" were an artificial phenomenon.
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"This is a scrupulously accurate eyewitness painting of a mysterious green fireball rushing through the night sky over New Mexico... by Mrs. Lincoln La Paz"-- from LIFE Magazine, April 7, 1952

On February 8 La Paz met with Dr. Joseph Kaplan, a UCLA geophysicist and member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. Kaplan, himself a meteor expert who agreed they could not be conventional meteorite falls and informed La Paz that he knew of no secret military projects that could explain the fireballs.

April 1949 sightings were reported nuclear-weapons storage facility at Fort Hood in Texas , then on July 24 a green fireball was observed falling close to Socorro, New Mexico .

February 1950 Project Twinkle was set up by U.S. Air Force study to investigate and try and record green fireballs using theodolite, telescope and a camera observations , the project only lasted just over a year and produced little in the way of evidence with the final report giving an unsurprising conclusion that possible explanations were balloons, airplanes, smoke rockets, birds, and meteors , which seems to totally ignore the evidence of previous reports.
La Paz later criticized Project Twinkle as inadequate, arguing the green fireballs were worthy of "intensive, systematic investigation".

In early 1952 Edward J. Ruppelt, director of the USAF Project Blue Book UFO study visited Los Alamos National Laboratory to speak to scientists who had their own green fireball sighting ,None of them believed they had a conventional explanation , Instead the scientists speculated that they were extraterrestrial probes "projected into our atmosphere from a 'spaceship' hovering several hundred miles above the earth,Ruppelt commented "Two years ago I would have been amazed to hear a group of reputable scientists make such a startling statement. Now, however, I took it as a matter of course. I'd heard the same type of statement many times before from equally qualified groups."

Green fireball are not a new phenomenon , On August 13, 1887 J.N. Lockyer of the Royal Society of London, "observed in the northeast a magnificent fireball of emerald-green colour, as bright as Jupiter, with a very slow motion."

In his book UFOs and Nukes Robert Hastings explores the link between green fireball and sensitive nuclear facilities such as Los Alamos and Kirtland AFB , with researcher Dan Wilson discovering that later heavy concentrations of sightings might also be correlated with atomic tests that began in Nevada in January 1951.

I find this a truly interesting case given the quality of whiteness , the conclusion of the Los Alamos scientists and the interest of the U.S military with the halfhearted attempt at the investigation of the phenomena by the Project Twinkle panel .

Enjoy and keep digging



Sources
en.wikipedia.org...
www.theblackvault.com...
www.project1947.com...
www.suite101.com...

This topic inmediately caught my eye and upon opening this thread I was amazed to see the artist depiction. This is exactly what me and a friend of mine saw back in January 09 here in The Netherlands. Thanks for this.

Curioser, and curioser. Mysterious events of the past start to come into a new--and hopefully more explanatory--light. Whatever the color, I am drawn by the reports of intelligent and awe-inspiring, brilliantly-lit balls of fire. In my case the color was orange, and it pulsated slowly from nothing to full-brilliance. At full pulse; it looked like liquid fire or plasma swirling inside.

So yeah, these kind of reports catch my eye. I'm going to take your advise and dig into the links. If the detail that the phenomena was seen near soccoro is accurate, it seems even more strange because most of those places mentioned are infamous in ufo lore.

Trying to understand what I saw took me years to finally put into a context that sufficiently explained it for me. What I saw wasn't a craft, it was a living intelligence. Great case S&F!

reply to post by gortex
Nice work Gortex, it seems to have been a while since one of the classic cases has been posted.

The green fireballs were documented in the press accounts of the day and drew a lot of attention from US intelligence. They were concerned that they could have been Russian rockets.

I like the accounts of green fireballs in the same way I like the Swedish 'ghost rockets.' They represent a localised or regional phenomenon. First thoughts stray towards meteorites with a high copper content, but this wouldn't account for the long period of time they were sighted in a specific area. Then we have military flares and I suspect the answers may lie there. Perhaps there was a Cold War project involving weather balloons at high altitude in search of Russian satellites? Similar to the Fugu balloons (Japanese), they could have flared on descent for easier location? Just speculating...

The astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh, saw three green fireballs...

I have seen three objects within the past seven years which defied any explanation of known phenomena, such as Venus, atmospheric optics, meteors, or planes. I am a professional, highly skilled observing astronomer.

In addition, I have seen three green fireballs which were unusual in behavior from scores of normal green fireballs... I think that several reputable scientists are being unscientific in refusing to entertain the possibility of extra-terrestrial origin and nature. It is yet too early for any decisions of finality (Stringfield, 1956a).

Clyde Tombaugh, Mars and UFOs

As far as I know, there's never been a reasonable explanation and the episodes remain a part of late 40s/early 50s UFO legend. Bill Moore released several reports that rely heavily on official unclassified and declassified reports. I could post some of them, but given his association with dodgy documents, it's hard to judge their authenticity.

According to Bruce Maccabee in his book UFO/FBI Connection Project Twinkle got photographic evidence that the green fireballs had a disc shaped variation and were proof of saucer reality.

During 1949 and 1950 numerous "green fireballs" were observed flying over restricted military installations in New Mexico and Texas. These military installations were associated with the construction and storage of atomic weapons. The security agencies were very worried that these "fireballs" were Soviet missiles. The Air Force reports also indicate a "disc shaped variation" also reported by Air Force security personnel. The local FBI agents reported numerous times to headquarters (Hoover) about these sightings. In 1950 the AF project set up to investigate these sightings (Project Twinkle) obtained **photographic proof** of saucer reality. This proof is presented publicly for the first time in this book.
brumac.8k.com...

This video of Bruce Maccabee discussing his book at XCon 2004 , he starts on green fireballs at 24.00m on the video .....video.google.com...#

For anyone interest in reading Bruce Maccabee's UFO/FBI Connection here is a link to it on google books .
books.google.co.uk.../FBI+Connection&source=bl&ots=a2vDAYgyhd&sig=cOuit2Wuf4k QoKuNXvQRBm_oQdg&hl=en&ei=XSjXTLSbEJi8jAeR-bS7CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

When I was in highschool (not TOO long ago), I was with a few friends out in a field at night. We were making jokes about the distant lights in the sky, commenting on how they were seemingly changing colors and acting strangely. Living relatively close to a major international airport, I was confident they were earthly aircraft.

However, as we began making jokes with each other that we were "seeing UFOs", a large bright green fireball appeared in a different portion of the sky. It looked like space junk burning up, with a long tail of green sparks traveling behind it. It was one of the most outstanding events I've ever witnessed. It proceeded to drop through the sky at a fast rate and went behind the treeline. One of the multi-colored lights we were observing seemed to head in that direction, and descend behind the treeline in approximately the same area.

I can't say what I saw. My guess is that it was a meteorite or a piece of space junk falling through the atmosphere. As for the other lights, I have no proof or outstanding visual confirmation that they were anything other than airplanes. I can say confidently though the "green fireball" phenomenon is a real one, regardless of its possible origins.

On two occasions while flying in Northern Ontario I have witnessed these types of phenomenon. The first time I had just left the airstrip at Moosonee on a solo flight (a town in northern Ontario for people who are not familiar with it.) I was in the middle of my climb at around 1900 feet when to the northwest of my position I saw one of these objects streak across the morning sky, the time was about 7am and this was in the middle of summer in 2002 with a visibility of about 30 miles; The sky was cloudless. The object was so bright that it lit up the inside of the aircraft's cockpit. It was a glowing greenish object with hints of red and orange in the tail. It was quite beautiful.

The second incident occurred while I was flying over Algonquin Park, again in Northern Ontario. I was flying with a fire spotter in the northern sector of the park in the middle of summer during one heck of a dry spell in 2004. Again, the same type of object was observed by myself and the spotter. A greenish object speeding across the early morning sky with a reddish and orange tail. This one wasn't as bright as the first one I saw and appeared to be much "higher" and further overhead.

I believe what I saw were just larger than normal meteorites skipping off the atmosphere at a low angle. The colors were caused by the different minerals and ores burning up as the objects encountered atmospheric friction.

im one of the lucky few who have seen a green fireball. the whole sky lit up green it was even big enough for me to see the object spinning inside the green flames. i dont think it was a ufo but who knows i just thought its copper that made it glow green idk.


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reply to post by gortex


Good info. I'd never heard of these before.
But they must be real because there's none of the usual skeptics posting in this thread..
Even the ones that say they actually believe..

reply to post by gortex

gortex,

It could be lightning.......

I know it may sound way out there but I have been working on a theory where ball lightning, when discharged at an altitude between 60 - 90 miles up, might travel along the Earth's magnetic field line to it's conjugate region in the other hemisphere where it will display the same phenomenon.

I know sprites, blue jets and elve's only have a lifespan of only a few milliseconds but ball lightning has the tendency to linger a bit longer. I have been mailing several agency's (among NASA) if they have freely accessible data concerning high altitude E.M.P. being registered through one of their satellites .

Don't know if my input was off topic but thanks for the information. S+F

(shameless plug of my thread where you can read more about this theory)

Peace

Originally posted by strafgod
im one of the lucky few who have seen a green fireball. the whole sky lit up green it was even big enough for me to see the object spinning inside the green flames. i dont think it was a ufo but who knows i just thought its copper that made it glow green idk.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

This i find truly fascinating. I have never heard of anyone actually seeing the meteor itslef as it falls, just the flames It might have been an illusion? Secondly copper tends to burn with a bluish green flame not a deep green flame

www.youtube.com...

annoying music so didn't embed it.

Reply to post by FireMoon

no illusion i was with 4 other friends who witnessed it along with me. the object was the size of a small plane at a high altitude and i could clearly see rough edges. the object was spinning in a football type spiral. it did only have green color to it so maybe it wasnt copper idk.


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Originally posted by strafgod
Reply to post by FireMoon

 

the object was spinning in a football type spiral. it did only have green color to it so maybe it wasnt copper

Electromagnetic pulses at high altitude travel along the Earth's magnetic field line in a spiraling motion as well... coincidence??

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Peace

Reply to post by operation mindcrime

i clearly seen an object with rough edges so maybe it is just coincident but i dont know. the best way i can discribe the object would be that it looked like a lava rock. iv never heard of these electromagnetic pulses till now and dont know much about them so it could of been what i saw. idk


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thanks.... great thread

is this the same phenomenon that we have seen in some of the apollo pix...

reply to post by mcrom901

mcrom901
is this the same phenomenon that we have seen in some of the apollo pix

Hi mcrom901 , could you maybe post links to the Apollo pix you mentioned , it would be interesting if NASA has photographed these objects in space .
Thanx

reply to post by gortex


i don't know why... but my mind had registered this object as 'green'...

Originally posted by Exuberant1
reply to post by easynow

 

Also - you'll like this find. I call it "The Censored 'Comet' over Tsiolkovsky - Apollo 12:

(This comet-looking thing is visible in the version of the image I found it in. But it has been censored from many of the other versions currently available for download)

from as12-47-6870

in any case i recall seeing more of it.... will check again...

here's another one....



www.ufodc.com...

its also interesting to note the following....

One of the original Mercury Astronauts and the last American to fly in space alone. On May 15, 1963 he shot into space in a Mercury capsule for a 22 orbit journey around the world. During the final orbit, Major Gordon Cooper told the tracking station at Muchea (near Perth Australia) that he could see a glowing, greenish object ahead of him quickly approaching his capsule. The UFO was real and solid, because it was picked up by Muchea's tracking radar. Cooper's sighting was reported by the National Broadcast Company, which was covering the flight step by step; but when Cooper landed, reporters were told that they would not be allowed to question him about the UFO sighting.

www.syti.net...

Cooper flatly denied the long-standing claim, repeated over the years by various authors including UFOlogical saints Allen Hynek and Jacques Valley, that he saw a greenish object with a red tail move past his Mercury 9 spacecraft in 1963.

www.space.com...

reply to post by mcrom901

mcrom901
i don't know why... but my mind had registered this object as 'green'

Hey given NASA's history with "false colour" images it might well have been green
Thanks for the info , particularly interested in Gordon Cooper's alleged sighting , Cooper was the man in my book , even though he wouldn't confirm it .

reply to post by gortex

At about 1820hrs local time on the 16 May 2006, a large number of people scattered over Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern New South Wales reported strange lights in the sky.

Sightings:

The website of UFO Research Queensland at www.uforq.asn.au... recorded the following four sightings:

1. Hervey Bay. "I have just sighted something most unusual. Ten minutes ago at about 6.20pm my mum and I looked up from our verandah and saw a bright light looking like a shooting star, but it was low to the ground and appeared to be breaking up. It lit up the verandah, was bright blue/green and moved east to west, towards Torbanlea. We didn't hear any noise."

2. Marburg. "Sighted a blue/green glow behind clouds in the northern sky above Marburg, Queensland. It looked like lightning glowing, but blue-green in colour. Then a fireball I presume sped/fired through in front of the clouds leaving a sparkling trail as it headed towards the hills behind our hilltop house. I was driving up the hill in a northerly direction. The fireball went in a north-west direction towards the ground. I was amazed at the brightness and colour."

3. Sunshine Coast. "Moving very fast about the size of a helicopter, moving east to west and blue/orange/yellow. I was heading north on the Bruce Highway, in approximately the Beerwah, Landsborough Glass House Mountains area. Unbelievable."

4. South-east Queensland. "On Tuesday 16 May 2006 at about 6.30pm our telephone contact number was locked up for about 40 minutes by people reporting a large, bright green object moving east to west at about 6.20pm. We also received reports via the Internet and a from a member residing in northern New South Wales.

"The sightings were made by people located on a north-south line spanning from about Ballina to Hervey Bay, a distance of about 375 kilometres, and a line west from Brisbane to about Gatton, about 100km. The witnesses were looking to the north or the south (Hervey bay) at an object moving east to west, so it must have been at an altitude of the order of 50km. The duration of the sightings was up to 5 seconds, and sparks came off the object and tended to be left behind. These details are consistent with a piece of space junk or a meteorite burning up in our atmosphere."

The website of the Australian UFO Research Network at www.auforn... carried the following additional report.

5. Strathpine, Brisbane, Queensland. " They were travelling north when they saw a very bright light, travel east to west. It was about 60 degrees from the horizon and it travelled very quickly, and was "very horizontal," It almost looked like fireworks being shot directly horizontally, but it didn't explode. It just disappeared."

A check of the Victorian UFO Research Society's website and that of UFO Research NSW failed to locate any additional reports, which assists locate the geographic area of witnesses.

Stephen Hughes:

Stephen Hughes of the Queensland University of Technology has just published a scientific paper about this event, titled "Green fireballs and ball lightning" in Proceedings of the Royal Society A. I located the paper's abstract at the society's website at rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org...

Abstract:

"This paper presents evidence of an apparent connection between ball lightning and a green fireball. On the evening of 16 May 2010 at least three fireballs were seen by many people in the skies of Queensland, Australia.

"One of the fireballs was seen passing over the Great Divide about 120km west of Brisbane, and soon after, a luminous green ball about 30cm in diameter was seen rolling down the slope of the Great Divide.

"A detailed description was given by a witness indicates that the phenomenon was probably a highly luminous form of ball lightning.

"A hypothesis presented in the paper is that the passage of the Queensland fireball created an electrically conductive path between the ionosphere and ground, providing energy for the ball lightning phenomenon.

"A strong similarity is noted between the Queensland fireball and the Pasmonte fireball seen in New Mexico in 1933. Both meteors exhibited a twist in the tail that could be explained by hydrodynamic forces. The possibility that multiple sightings of fireballs across southeast Queensland were produced owing to fragments from comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann is discussed."

My comments:

Firstly, for more information on the Pasmonte fireball click epswww.unm.edu...

Secondly, all in all, a fascinating piece of research by Stephen Hughes. I am now looking to read a copy of the full paper.

Please visit the Australian UFO blog at ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com...