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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.
Conf'e:rence on AERIAL Pml:NC>MENA Pagc 17 Dr. L~.Paz: To. tbe case of the Texa.a fall., thie is very rough; I didn't see i ·c, I can only bs.se an estimate eey on the comparisons that -were made with the moon e.o to size and total intensity. In the case of the Texao fal.l it 'li'Ould certainly be com:puable to - it va.s one of the brightest observed f:treballs ia ·t;otal. intenuity . . . . In the case o:f the Sto.rvation Peak incident, we can compare it w"lth Vemis which was conveniently located, e.nd 1t eert.'3.inl.y ,,as or l'Jtellar mae,uitude minus 4., possibly a little brighter. That comparison was ?Dade aJ..,.zoct immediately after the obs~rvation. . .... Mr. Hoyt: It ws very bright a.nd clee.r that night. Dr. Teller: You saw it at 6 o'clock? Mr. Boyt: At five minu·tea to eix. Very, ve_ry clear that night. (ciitc;h digger., in between ditcn digger, a. tw coherent remsrks:) Dr..Hanley: In 1945 or 1946 I observed practically the same thing ao in this le·tter. We thought it vas a roman candlo. Definitely light green in color. I am still 1;,crried about the fact that they don't report ~ green color 1n these :tallE. Dr. Bred.bury: Lack ot noise, lack of .... , the lack of these things wOUld be . qually astounding for o.rry Jllaterial object....•. Dr. LaPa.z: Dr. Kapl.E.n suggested the poas1bil1ty or the same sort of phenanenon that he cculd produce experimentally in hio laboratory . • . • snd he tells me tmder certs.in eonditions he can produc-e a globe or lamps of yellOT-Jisb.--e;reen light • . . • . He conjectured ~or a m1nt.te that that might have eome rele.ti011 • an artificial aurora. Comdr. M:llldclkorn: As long &s you brought that up, MaJ. Johnson bao a letter I obtained from Gen. Bunker vhich ma,y be pertinent. Gen. Bunker transmitted the inf'ormation you•ve heard to the Air Materiel. Carmnand, and in reply received n letter f'rom e.n Air Force General vho recently returned tran AlD.eka. I'll let Dr. Le.Paz read this. Dr. LaPaz: This ia closely related to 'What I was talking about. It begins: "Dear Bunker: Received your interesting phenanena 0'f l. J'ebruary and p:romptly turned it over to Boward . . . . now eaddled. v1th the responsib1lity of clues. Regard. as coiucidentol. that on dates JOU mention Gen. Carroll vas in Fairbanks, AJ.ook;a., and on his return r-el&.ted tbat he bad never seen be:tore in his lite such a beautitul technical dieplay of Wa:rthern Lights. I~e v.aat these people have seen ie a reflection fra-.i the •••• ~ these pyro technics. So -ra.r ais we know., it ie etill phenomena and not ma:torial. Best Regards~ Paul".
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