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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.
“Green”19 pages
•Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 7 so ·irell rapo:..'ted, from Los Alaoos for example, tha.t although the green fire bsllu observed ohoved small . • . • the na.ture of the fireball • • • • many obs~rva"iiions ot ob3ervers· lrho paid prectically no attention to the sky at P.ny other time in their lives and now vhen they see a really bright light, they report it. You will find a great; na.ny instances of bluish-white tire• balls. In my op:!.nion, thoi.;e fa.lJ.iug vertical.ly and leaving trails, are c:iro:ply ordinary shooting stars. Of high intensity, that is, what we call fircbal.l.s, a blue light, 8.1.'e not in ezr:, sense to be associated with the green lights. Those th...-ee categories ·chen. Dr. Mmley: ? Dr. La.Paz: In the ce,se of the tuo green fireball paths, determined from Los Ala::no:s obse:r-·tations, in one caae the Ste.rvation Peak incident, we have an Ea.st-Wet3t :modon, and then also a motion exactly parallel to ••••• In other 'lfOI"d.B, ·these two real pe.tho Bho-vr, I think they are the only two ·or the first category that show any real dei.>artui e tram the • • • • • It is possible to explain t!l.S.t. It is qui.te evident that ue have no case ot assurance tb.s.t bot!.l gt-o~is of ob£ervcrs, the observe1·s at.Starvation Peak and the observers at Los Alamos, s11"t-·· the oame point of ..... so that if' we were to merely ask ·lfba.t are the linite Within which ouch real paths might fall., it t'l.1l'lU3 out tha:t it migb.i; be eo short ae 12 miles instead of bei:ng 25 miles long, and in ths.t case i .,.; woulo. be directed almost directly to the North; it vould come doun veey ncs.rly .,"i·thin 2 degrees, 5 ~et;rees say, of the North,. In the case of the 'l'exao obE:Cl'\ratioI\.8, whe:::-eao I hav-e ind.icated and the maps show, we ha;rn Jl'.I.BJ.lY obaervut.tons by tra:1.ned observers, motion :J.o clearly almost directly North -to South. I have been informed that tllan are reasons for regarding the . . . . . oat here (ditch digger) . . . and you no·cice that this passeo reasonably close to Lubbock. The seme is true of the two earlier fireballs, those of Decembe~ 12 and Decembe1· 20. They both ps.saed • one passed centrally over Loo Al.a.mos and the other about six mil.eo North o-r the center, but this would not be trae . • • . . (ditch digge::) . Ono point that poasibly should have been me -i;ioned ea.'1'.'ller is this: I 1mo the more interested vhen Captain Neef came to my ottice and brought the December 5th incident to my mind because very nuch earlier I bad been conto.c·.:;ed firet by • • • White, Director of Texas Obs~rve!"s, in regard. to ·their remarkable green :na..-re aecn on January 1, 1948. Second, f'rom a tr. Pru1tt, Director lforthweGtcrn Section, City &..~tion, o~ the Meteor Socie·Gy, I had been informed that earlier occurrences of bright green t'ireba.llo, r.ot too far f::.•om the Hanford area. When Captain Neef' came in ,;..r:i.th r(!l)orte of green fireballs ne~.r Lo.a Vegas and particularly when ho disclosed that the1-e l.'aG a Los Ala.mos near !Bs Vegas - the real !Qa Alamos - it 1.1ad much interest. Dr. 'BolJ.mray: Are there aey reports of theac from otlwr install&tions, such aa Troy, New York, or places like that? Dr. Le.Paz:. I xaised that ques..;ion end ! lmorr or no other cases. I mean to aay the a:~eaa from which these reports came, as in one, t'or such evidence as ..... , they do not relate to the green f'ireballs; they relate to the daylight occurrence of hcrlzo.ntaJ. moving, bright wbite obJecte - same in Memphis, Tem1essee iziMay, 1948 - tbat :..a not too far from Oak Ridge. They relate to
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