box Incident Summaries 173-233

INCIDENT SUMMARY SHEET Incident No. 227 1. Date and Time of Observation: 12 Dec 1948 Approx 9:00 1 m. 30 s & 9:00 2 m. 30s. 2. Where Sighted: Near Bernal, New Mexico 3. Observer's Position: ground - right front seat of car (i. e., ground, air, control tower, etc.) 4. Name and Address of Observer: Dr La Paz, Director, Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico 5. Occupation and/or hobbies: Astronomer 6. Attention Attracted by: indirect vision 7. Number of Object(s) Seen: 1 8. Size of Object(s): Apparent angular diameter 5' 9. Color of Object(s): very bright green 10. Shape (Sketch if Possible) ball 11. Nature of Luminosity: (directed beam of light?) 12. Altitude of Object: 8 to 10 miles altitude (estimated) 13. Estimated Distance of Object from Observer: N/S 14. Estimated Speed of Object: Either 8 to 12 miles or 3 to 6 miles per second depending on the duration estimate used 15. Time in Sight: 2.1 to 2.3 seconds 16. Tactics: Observed almost exact horizontal flight until a 1/10th second before disappearance when a slight but definite curvature downward was noticed. 17. Sound Made by Object(s): none noticed 18. Direction of Flight of Object(s) east to west - very low on the horizon 19. Apparent Construction: "fireball" 20. Effect on Clouds: N/S 21. Exhaust Trail (Color of): No trail noticed 22. Manner of Disappearance: Exploded into four smaller bright green fragments which quickly disappeared 23. Weather Conditions at Time of Sighting: Clear 24. Peculiarities Noted: See "Significant Difference Between the Fireballs Observed in the Interval 5-13 Dec and Typical Meteors" by Dr La Paz. 25. Summary of Incident: (over) (See attached page)