DOE-미확인 이상 현상(UAP)-D004, 공중 현상에 관한 로스앨러모스 회의, 1949년

This document is a transcript of a 1949 conference held at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (now Los Alamos National Laboratory), Los Alamos, New Mexico. Attendees included several eminent scientists and physicists, many of whom had contributed to the development of the first nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project. The purpose of the conference was to discuss and gather hypotheses to account for the nature and origin of a phenomenon involving “green fireballs” that had been reported over a period of several months in the vicinity of the laboratory. The group did not come to a consensus on a likely attribution for the phenomenon, though a leading hypothesis was that the observations may have been related to meteors entering the atmosphere at a shallow angle and high altitude. Dr. Edward Teller suggested that if not a “material body,” an “electron phenomenon” might be the cause, while Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, an expert specializing in meteorics, expressed that “nothing like this, to [his] knowledge, has ever been observed in the case of meteorite drops.”

• L.,
UNIT ED STATES
ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO
Authority:
ADDRESS REPLY TO:
NND 58378
11ANAGER, SANTA FE DIRECTED OPERATIONS
IJ, S. ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
P. 0. BOX 1539
LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO
ANO REFER TO:
SFD-3- 1 i.:a.rch 22 , 1949
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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
ob3erved. Meteorite falls (tor next minute or two, Dr. L&Paz'a cet!Jments
?1,0t,J
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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Conference on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 2
earth, ts as you would elt!)ect, one at rend.ool - in azimuth and elevation. I.f
the rad.laat t7hite is knovn., yor: can preciict the minimum angle with respect to
the plane of the horizon nt which the m.eteoi-i•ce path has been observed. There
is no choice, e.s f'a.r as the ..... for direction wen rceteorites fe.11 in at
ranc1om. I'd like to contrast 11o·n-, at this time, thia fact with what has been
observed by some indivi.duals here at the co.:?lf'erence and by r.::aey of the AESS
inspectorll, UAL pilota, special a.gents, goodness knows how many other categories
of people. I choose to describe ·Ghe only one of the incidents that I vas
pereonally o. wi:~nesa to. It io the only one of the incidents that I am in a
nooiticn to vouch fo~ on the basis of experience, dating from 1915, as a member
of the Am~rican !>1etaor Society; w-as most certainly not a. conventioll81 meteorite
fall. It -was the so-called St:U.--vation Peak incident on the night of December 1.2,
19116. 'l'iue of observation around 9;02 P.M., plus or minus 30 seconds. This
rir0·oa11 nppeared in full intenoity instantly • there was no increase in light.
Its color,, estimated to be somewhere arotmd wave length 5200 engstroma, .ms a.
hue green, or yello-11 green, such ae I had never observed in meteor falls before.
The path ua.e a& I!.etlrly horizontal as one could determine by visual observation.
We have ~ pho·togra:1>h which might be some li--;; ra ot departure from horizontal..
The trajectory was traverse at, I am inclined to believe, constant angular
velocity. Just befor0 the end of the pat;h ·there we.a the very 811gb.test drooping
of the path, that io the green fireball broke into fragments, still bright green.
Dr. Teller: And all this time the intensity uas approxiJDately constant?
Dr. !.a.Paz:: All -the time, as fa'.!." ae I cou.ld determine. The eye, of course, is
e.dmitted.l.~r a very crude phcrcographer.
Dr. Teller: Rov long did the phenomenon last1
Dr. 1-.'i.Paz~ Almost exactly two i:;econds. We have in the reports here, I brought
the com:plt::te file nth ma and uould be glad. to circulate them, duration measures
in 1•ela.tion. to all observations. Fev of -these, h~rever, I believe, were
deter.Jlinoo under as favorable circumstancea as the duration of the Starvation
Peak incident. Possibly I should go back and review the situation a little bit.
Because oom~ report, iaau.ed by the AESS, uoul.d certain]Jr suggest that I was
prinillrily responsible for starting this whole matter I am glad that Captain
Reel' corrected that impression. Actually:- I YaS on an investigation in regard
to -'che green fireball. observed on tho night of December 5th at the time the
Dece111ber 12th incident occurretl. As a :result I was keyed up; I was 'WBtehing;
I h'.1.cl a stop vatch with me and a transit. We got into position and made
measures, transit :ciee,suros, on azimuths and elevation readings; that is, we
ma.de a dm.·a:cion check, certainly within not more than tvo or three minutes
sftor the incident occurred. To that extent, I believe, it is posaibly' the
best observed ot any incident up to tha time of the January 30th fall.
Dr. Manl~r: Hem did you have time to use ·t;b.e tranait?
Dr. La.Po.~: The transit was in the back of ·the car. The mament the car was
parked a:c the aide of th2 road, we yanked. the transit out and set 1t u,p and

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Conference on AEBJ.AL PHENOMENA Page 3
began meauurement.s. We were i r. motion at the time but ,re ve1•e able to ge·t; a
very good check of 'Uhat w obsc!'Ved at the time on the road near Starvation
Peak. Ue had a cJ.ea.r view of the sky to the Northwest om the WeBt, and the
object wan so low over the horlzon it was possible to compare 1t not o:nly to
the ste.:r•a irith which I am f'am1J.iar, but with 1--espect to Il¥)untain peaks -~t
were also visible. To continue, that duration vas a.bout two second.Q. 'l'his is
one of tho puzzling ~s to the meteorists. I believe I do not exaggerate
-.:hen I say tila:'c ':}(:ffa of the d~tion detcrmi:nations that have bclen made 1n the
case of the green f'il."'eballs have given durations right in that vicinity.
Whel'ees you -take, sa.y, 100 ord:luarymeteor observations you will :tind the
·widest diversions in durations. You could take tbe same leason a.a observed
by 100 people - possibly that0z a better example .. and there would be wide
va.rietionn in the estimates of dm-ation.
Dr. MaDl.e~r: Did you correlate the ardmu.tha vith ..•..'?
Dr. LaPe.z: No. T'.iJ.ere ie an azimuth factor here which I am goiDg to talk to
you about, that relates to the choice of clirection. Both our observations are
single station observations, no that it beeomes impossible ~am the observe.•
tion mec.aure to deter.nine the x·eal path of the fireball in the atmosphere.
There have been only 'three caeea vhere the.t path was determinable. one, as I
rece.ll it.:- 'W'aS tbat of Dacembez- 12, a.ncrcher December 20, and f'1nally, of course,
the very :.nrge fall January 30, 1949. Pll give you some particulars on the
0,.1
path3. I do wrm:c to observe, however, that even our station observations
present a puzzling eharacteris·,ic to the meteorista. If you plot what are
called, by meteorists, the admiosible protozons for a gi'een fireball tbat has
been obse11Ved, you vill find thut they give, on the average, an approach al:most
to the North, come dOffll. from the North, they are not restricted to 'l • Bow
whe.t about. -I.he real patbo? I e;ave sane indications e.s to the altitude at which
m.eteoriteo normally disrupt full . . . . . and cme d0m1. That relates to the
loi-rest . . . . . o~ path. The green fireballs are unusual in this respect:
probably that they a.re horizontal or nearly so, or that their horizontal path
is traverced very lcn1 down in the otmosphere. In the ce.se of the real paths
f'or wicl'l vre have be - able to make determinations so ~e;r, those are sra,phical
determinations, as ve have not taken the trouble to use Chablis (t) method& or
. . . . . bec~use the observstions a.re regarded aa necessarily too rough for
• ema.tical niceties. Those paths are ·traversed at elevations between 8 and
10 d.lee. I defy you to find anywhere amoDg meteorists, examples of conven­
tional. meteorites that move over long horizontal. pa.tbs reserving nearly constant
angular velocities a.nd t.herefo1·e, on the average, con.st.ant linear velocities, at
elevat iomi of the order o-r 8 to 10 miles. There is a good deal of evidence that
may be of value in the complete reports that a.re available hore, but since this
is sn introduction, I wuld like to summarize at. this stage: the fireball which
I personoJ.1y vitnesaed on the night of December 12, 1948, ws not, in my
opinion, e. conventional. meteor :fall. S1!1Ce the majority of the green fireballs
nave been reported to me, both before and. a:fter this December 12th occurrence.,
poeeess elnost all the propertielil vbich I persOllally observed on the night of
December 12th, I feel that 1n all probabillty they are not themselves conven­
tional met,eol~ falls. Now, the easy wy out of this is -to coajure u;p an un•.
conventional. type of . . . . . metcorite, vhioh comes in practically parallel to the

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Conference on AEICAL PHENOMENA Page 4
surface of the e~~h and is aa.:i.ehol{ eadowcd vith tbe property against the very
grea"i:, atmor.pher1c reointance tlmt is experienced. on a level, it reserves neerly
eons-t-..e.n.t ve1lccity over paths say of th.e order of 25 to over 100 miles, as in
the case oi' the greeu fireball en January 30th. It should also bave the
property that it is a very remerkable h·t1e of green, not heretofore observed,
to my knowledge, in "i:.ho case of a:ey- conveutional meteor falls. And finally,
and this pcseibly Ls the moa·I; i.1;1plausible :t"ea.ture of c.ll, that although 1t
produce:, l:i.ght vi:;i".)lc at distances of the o:rder o-f 1!00 miles, it doeSI1't make
e.. sound. J.:n the case of che Jru.?.uary 30th fell, due to the fact that there had
been o. lcre;e mmibcr of milltc1-"7 :persoxmi:?l alerted, ve wre able to obtain
obeervat:i.ona vith".n a minute af'\,je? the fall occurred end pursued the investiga­
tion over E'. d.i.atsncc of 1,600 miles - in Texas mud. prim ,,e2 r1ly! - in some ten
days• ti!lle inte..'1"V'ie'lf'lng literaJ.J.y hundreds oz people, saw not one substan..
tio.ted accc,unt ot no:l.ee produced by the meteorite fall.
Dr. Teller:· V.ay I a.ok how many people have seen this one big meteorite?
Dr. laPaz: T'ABt .:a difficult to say. (r~cord blank for abort perl,od) ••••••••
FinaUy, ir: the illten-ogation of such persons, w invariably interview them ae
individuaJ.t1. lie •:;rlod a :f'amily o'f 8 the first night, as Majo:z- Godsoe will
recall.• :i.n·· erviev-lng ..•.. and :tt became apparent at once that there vas same
i;ympe:chetiu influence o.nd we broke j_t off after I think the th:trd or fourth
oboervatiOI~ c.:nd thereafter inte:.'.'Vie,red separately. Ii' you were to search,
howe"ter, the inde::9endent observations of those who were v.tdely separated,
!'.)ossibly stations o! the order of 100, ·there lrere probe.bl.y 100 ditterent
staticna Teporting.
D1·. Teller: What area did that cover?
Dr. taPa8: All o::' New.Mexico, ell the Western half of Texas. I have a map
here mth ume indic:itions of possibly the extent of that.
Hoyt and B:•adbury: Wasn°t that Sunday the 2l~th?
Dr. L~az: Ro, 1-t was definitely Sunday tha 30th. The nevspapers have very
hrlrfull.Y conceelccl mst of the r~levan'G facts relating to tb.is f'ireball. First.,
they described it as a firebaJ.l., second, ·they .•••(record blank tor f'ev seconds).
interi'eri·ec. m.th OSI and mum~t a.ble to do that this time. Thie is the f'ield
map and ,rll.l give 111 various eolore, dots and pencil <iashs, etc. all of the
obsei-vationa obta~ned on the T~a.s search.
Dr. Tellel": All ~:elate to one i'a.1.1?
Dr. 1'..a.Paz: Yee. T'aese lines a.re drat.'D. from points o:f observation. The center,
cs you see. of i,o:·nts of e.ppearerce is SO"Jlevhere Southwest of Amarillo or South­
oouthveai of Amarillo. The disappe~.re.nce point is in the vicinity of Lubbock,
Texas. At the time this Ul18 dr...wn, before I 1-ra.s able to make out t?'aalSit
meaoures 111 ·i;b.e v:l.cinity of Alb\:.querque, this ,re.o the beet apparent path of tho
?ircioo.llc. These other illk lines are independent, made by other groups ot
obsej,""Vero i:rorking on the Scmle p:.oble:m. (record blenlt again for short time) •
Thi:; transtt, Uilfortunately, had. s. needle with a ben·c p1et-..on and it was Mt

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Conference on AERIAL PBEI.JOMEHA Page 5
discovered until m,.ch 1e;~er tha-c ve uere getting faulty z-ecords. Independently,
I b£.ve re~deten:.ined, using the best equip:nent available at tho University, the
lines of sight a.t all po:~ta where the faulty t.rans1t had been used. I have
plotted on this map only obser.at:l.on.s that I made pG>.-son.9.l.ly or such obuerva­
tions as I have c-,1cry reason to believe ,,rere Jnade by experienced personnel, for
exam.ple UAL flyers, who took tll~ trouble to make measures, or possib~ civil
engj.neel'G.
Dr. Teller: You mean theae people right afterwards or shortly a.f'term,.rds took
an i11st1'Ull:en:c e.tit. tried ·:;o meavure it?
Dr. u.Pa.z: '.!..'hat a right.
Dr. Teller: Thie is the po:Lnt where 1t disappeared?
Dr. LaPa.z: And r.01-me.J.l..y', all you td.ll get is the point where it disappears,
becauae t.te ave1•£1gc man is ali'ar~ ot the fa.ct that when he ii, not w.rned, h