AEC file on the Los Alamos green fireball conference

UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO ADDRESS REPLY TO: MANAGER, SANTA FE DIRECTED OPERATIONS U. S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION P. O. BOX 1539 LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO AND REFER TO: SFD-3-1 March 22, 1949 Lt. Cmdr. Richard Mandelkorn AFSWP Headquarters Sand…

Held at 13-00, 16 February 1949, in conference room P-162, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Present: 4th Army: Major Winn Major Godsoe Captain Neef AFSWP: Commander Mandelkorn University of New Mexico: Dr. LaPaz FBI: Mr. Maxwell USAEC, SPOO: Mr.…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 2

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 2 earth, is as you would expect, one at random - in azimuth and elevation. If the radiant white is known, you can predict the minimum angle with respect to the plane of the horizon at which the meteorite path has been observed. There is…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 3

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 3 began measurements. We were in motion at the time but we were able to get a very good check of what we observed at the time on the road near Starvation Peak. We had a clear view of the sky to the Northwest and the West, and the object…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 4

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 4 surface of the earth and is somehow endowed with the property against the very great atmospheric resistance that is experienced on a level, it reserves nearly constant velocity over paths say of the order of 25 to over 100 miles, as in the CA…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 5

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 5 discovered until much later that we were getting faulty records. Independently, I have re-determined, using the best equipment available at the University, the lines of sight at all points where the faulty transit had been used. I have…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 6

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 6 Dr. LaPaz: With one exception, in the CASE of Roswell, there are two types of sound associated with meteorite falls and, I assume, associated with the motion of any very high velocity projectile or missile through the air. There are what phys…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 7

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 7 so well reported, from Los Alamos for example, that although the green fireballs observed showed SMALL ..... the nature of the fireball ..... many observations of observers who paid practically no attention to the sky at any other time…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 8

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 8 the Hanford area as far as the Pruitt observations go, and to the observations that I've mentioned here in the Las Vegas-Los Alamos area ..... A very curious thing has come to light during these investigations. I published not long ago an art…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 9

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 9 Dr. LaPaz: It's true in any category. Even in the irons, the presence of copper is very hard to detect, very little. ..... (ditch digger). I don't know whether you gentlemen could suggest an easy way to obtain green fireball spectra or…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 10

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 10 Dr. Lapas: Due to the fact that they have a curve, and practically all times during which darkness is with us, why they tend to come in from that direction.... Dr. Bradbury: Would it be a shower? Dr. LaPaz: That was my first explana…

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Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 11 Captain Neef: Well, it's one of those things; it's a Navy contract and they are not at liberty to divulge what they find, so we have to go through Washington, the Bureau of Ordnance, to get the information. Comdr. Mandelkorn: I belie…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 12

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 12 to the University of New Mexico, where he was lecturing, we called a conference with Major Godsoe and other interested parties. He gave a brief resume of the observations that had been made to date. Now, Kaplan is one of the charter m…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 13

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 13 Dr. LaPaz: Whites chiefly. If you look closely and without interference from outside lights, yellows, oranges and reds. Dr. Bradbury: But it's apparently a yellowish-green we're talking about here. If you can see a bluish-green, you…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 14

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 14 I have found in the literature only three cases where no detonations, no rumblings were reported. One of those is the Belgium observation in 1855, and I think should be discounted because meteorists hardly existed at that time. Some f…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 15

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 15 illuminated by the sun. In the CASE of the irons, it will be very faint, but it'll be there if you look for it. In the CASE of the Four Corners Fall, that train was observed and I'm inclined to believe that it might have been a conven…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 16

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 16 Comdr. Mandelkorn: I'd like to remove that temporary statement about the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project; we aren't laughing ....(record blank for minute or two). Dr. Bradbury: None of us are experts in this field, so we essenti…

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Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 17 Dr. LaPaz: In the CASE of the Texas fall, this is very rough; I didn't see it, I can only base an estimate say on the comparisons that were made with the moon as to size and total intensity. In the CASE of the Texas fall it would certainly b…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 18

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 18 Dr. LaPaz: May I make the observation that if you look in the chapter by ....., you'll find that in Alaska where this observation was reported, there are very few times at this season of the year when you can't see an aurora. Dr. Teller: I…

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Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 19 of the American Meteor Society and all at once we began to get reports of large numbers of stationary fireballs; not moving. The burst was there, but no motion. Now one who observes normal conventional fireball falls is aware of the fact tha…

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Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 20 Dr. LaPaz: It should be possible ..... The conventional meteor cannot be photographed at the present time. The so-called meteorschmitts that Harvard College is now having produced at very great expense, they expect to go down to the 4th and…

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Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 21 experiments. I think that if anyone of the UCLA Institute of Geophysics had been observing, it would have gotten to Kaplan's ears. ..... There are two great advantages to this area: first, you have clear skies at night and can observe them a…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 22

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 22 it was impossible to make an estimate of the approximate wave and engstroms without detailed spectroscopic equipment, which he did not possess. So whether the Captain actually cut out the spectrum charts and sent them to him or not, I…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 23

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 23 Dr. Bradbury: ..... Dr. Teller: You have to get a shock wave out of it. With a very SMALL object the shock wave would be smaller than .... I have not made calculations on it, but it's just common sense ..... Dr. LaPaz: I would like…

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 24

Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA SECRET Page 24 Dr. Teller: Now let's try to get a check of this. (Dr. Teller then spent approximately the next twenty minutes or so figuring on the blackboard - estimating light, speed, kinetic energy, shock wave, etc.) Dr. Teller: If I can just b…