Documents / Report
This is the final report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, conducted by the University of Colorado under Air Force contract F44620-67-C-0035, with Edward U. Condon as scientific director and Daniel S. Gillmor as editor. It was submitted to the National Academy of Sciences on 15 November 1968 for review. The report includes field studies, photographic and radar analyses, case studies, historical chapters and appendices such as the Robertson Panel report and the Twining letter.
':Ui;;!,';slive of an opt icrll !Iii fa/',e: p!lc'110JlICn0I1:
(]) nil' IJFJ "as ;l1h':IYS \,ithin ;J fe\'! degrees of a horizontal
Flane containing the aircraft, thus s:ltisfying the smaU-an6 le re-
quirement;
(2) 'nH' aircraft flew at a stead)' altitude of 19,(JOU ft, for
the 8S n, mi, over which the UFO 'i/1pear~'d to "pace" the aircraft, th1-:s
the plane maintained a con~~tant rl'1ations!l:p to any atmospheric layer
at a fixed altituJe;
(3) 'nlC dark liFO l'iil:, secn ",I:;liJic'd to "pace" the aircraft, thl.:s
the plane maintained a constant rciationsllip to any atmospheric layer
at a fixed altitude;
(~) 'nH' dark llFO Iva:; seen llP,a i liS t a hri gilt sky background
"ithin lS"-,"O° of thp st'tting "'111; 11(')11'1 1 identical ilT1,l)~cs, d'i~
p1.l)"ing "Jelhfish-likdllIVIU!' Ill .. )' bl' C()lIuuollly observed wherever
Jnir:lgl's are 0\>s':'1'I'e,1 ,"i ,h "iro:l).! I i,~ht contra~t present. '11lC
reflection of the moon on g<'Ilt1)' rippl ing \~at(,'r presents qui te similar
hehavi 0]".
The suggestion i~ strong that thc' UFO in this case was a mirage:
a reflection of the dark terrain below seen against the bright,
"si Ivery" sky to the left of the set tlllg ~;un, The reflecting layer
l\Quld he a thill, sha~p temperature inversion located :It an altitude
just above that of the crui"ing aircraft. Most of the facts in this
incident can 1)(: a-ccounted fOT by this hypothes.is, '!11C dark, opaque
nature of th(' image arises from thl' contr:lst ill brightncss and the
phenomenon of "total reflectIon," 'I1H~ nrn.ll1gcnlent of the large and
Sl1l'.tll ohjects in a thin JillC jllst ahove' till' air'l'lIft's flight j1Dth,
as 1,'l'11 as thl' !!lallllCr of disappearance, are commensurate with a l:1irage.
:\!' the Illirag('-producing layer \,'eakl'n~ (with dist'llh:e) or thc viewing
[ll1~:lc incl'C':lses (lI'ilS the' :li)'cl'<lflill'gillJ1ing its descent at :he tilm:,?),
the mil'i\I:(' appear:; tc dwindle to n point lind di.';.:JlJle;;r~;. Thls type of
mirage is rCrt'rrcd to ;\" ;1 :,\ljl('rio)' lIIi rill'," and has oftl.'il "cen rcpor'tcd
over the OCl'aJ1 CSl'C' Sl'e! i 011 \'1, Chapl.(·r 4). Report, from the classic collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 1497 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.