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Newsweek · 2026-07-10 · 25 pages · text from the file's own layer

This declassified document is a March 22, 1949 letter from the Security Operations Branch of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Santa Fe Directed Operations. It forwards a transcript of a Conference on Aerial Phenomena held at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on February 16, 1949. At the conference, Dr. LaPaz described the green fireballs, including his own Starvation Peak sighting of December 12, 1948, and argued that they were not conventional meteors. Dr. Teller and others discussed why the fireballs made no sound, and no conclusion was reached.

  • p. 3 …hue green, or yello-11 green, such ae I had never observed in meteor falls before…
  • p. 4 …The green fireballs are unusual in this respect: probably that they a.re horizontal or nearly…
  • p. 5 …It should also bave the property that it is a very remerkable h·t1e of green…
  • p. 7 …They are strictly e.mlogous to the green fireballs of the night of December 12. On…
  • p. 8 …In the ce,se of the tuo green fireball paths, determined from Los Ala::no:s…
  • p. 9 …After 'tfliat I •ve been telling you about the green 1'1::e balls, you. probably…
  • p. 10 …I don't kn.01, whether you gentlemen could auggest an easy way to obtain green…
  • p. 11 …and notice the.t they Cflma 1n at high angles to the horizontal, whereao the green…
  • p. 12 …I don't think o.nybody, I menn in the line of green fir ballo, in…
  • p. 13 …You sometimes see green, Dr. ·Bradbury, but it 1a a blue green. The blue ♦-g?"een…
  • p. 14 …But it's apparently a yellowish-green we 9re t.a.1k1ng G.bout here. If…
  • p. 15 …I baren 1 t claaaified ·i:;hs.t particular fall, however, with the green fireba1le and…
  • p. 16 …In the ca.Be of the green fireballs, to my knouledge, no such train haa been…
  • p. 17 …ln the case of those \1ho observed the green f'ireballa, o y that neor the…
  • p. 18 …Definitely light green in color. I am still 1;,crried about the fact that they don…
  • p. 19 …Arizona it w.s green until it turned straight down and ve·e-rea. Soina , . . • Dr…
  • p. 20 …a natural e.xple.nation to thece green f1reballs. Dr. Teller: ..... but I vould lik~ to…
  • p. 21 …l1ith one of those, a bright green :fii-eball might be photographed, but they are not…
  • p. 22 …which one of the obeervora mentions a green color. Bot this peculiarin yellow-green vbich moat…
~ - ,~COE'BREliCE
On
AERIAL PHENOMENA
Held a.t 1300, 16 February 1949, 1n conference room P-162, Los Alamos Scientific
La.boi."'atory, Lo& Alamoa, Bew Mezico. Present:
4th Any: Major Winn
Major Oodsoe
C~ptain Reef
l!anima,naer Mo.lldelkorn
t1n1versity ot XevMenco: La.Paa~-
!'BI: Mr.Maxlrell.
USAEC, 81"00: Mr. Morgan
Mr. Bevburger
University ot California: Dr. Bradbury
D.r. Holloway
Mr. Hoyt
Dr. Me.nl.ey
Dr. Reines
Dr. Teller
1-1r. Ilelfburger opened the contereD.Ce and s~ted that the subJect ot Aerial
Phenomena was olassifie4 Secret 11'1tbia the mean111g of AR 380•5 mld canparable
appropriate regulations o~ the Navy and A11: J'orce~, and tba.t oil penonnel at
this meeti?Jg vere properfy cleared. Mr. !l&wburger th<m 1nt1'0dueed Captain
Beef, who briaf'ly outlined the purpoe" of tbia meet;ing.
Captain Beet: It aU start d back 1n DecGmber, 1948, when w first received
8Ql1i.e reports from same airline pilats tha.t these 6NCJ1. :firebe.lls vere sisb.ted.
At this s~e v~ bad no idea what to do with it or vhat it ,ran. We e.pprooobf:d
Dr. LaPaz 'Who has been aqsisting us, gratis, since tbat date. Almost over two "
months now that he hao been assisting us, oo in order to have you get the tacts _·'
as they ue to a sc1en-tiet, I'll let Dr. IaPaz q:plain these tbings as we have ~
:found t.hem. Then you ~ give ua your opinion trom. theft; that 18 what we are '"
interosted in.
Dr. La.Paz: I would like to ·rev1ev ubat is observed in the ca.ee ot a. conven
tiol'l&l. meteorite fall. Rot that I bave e.n7 )lopes of saying anytb1113 10u don't
a,l.ready kncnf, but because I regard the observational ev14ence observed by tm,
conventional meteorite falls as providine tbp necessary bac~ for tlhat is
?1,0t,J ob3erved. Meteorite falls (tor next minute or two, Dr. L&Paz'a cet!Jments
on recoi-d drowned out by noise trcm ditell digger immediately outeide conference
roQm) • • • • • • • Bece.uae of eou:nd phenomena ~, the hll ot a large
me·lreor1te wiU cQWJe great frisht among button beings neceasar1.1.y but primari~
among animals, o~ all kind~. 'Ihe tact toll~, by- a meteorite falling into the
• DECLASSIFIED .....
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