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This file is a US Atomic Energy Commission transcript of a secret conference on aerial phenomena held at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory on 16 February 1949. A cover letter from the AEC Santa Fe office dated 22 March 1949 accompanies it. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz describes the New Mexico green fireballs, including the Starvation Peak sighting of 12 December 1948 and the 30 January 1949 fall over Texas. He argues they were not conventional meteorites. Edward Teller, Norris Bradbury and others discuss the missing sound and the long horizontal paths but reach no conclusion.
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•Confcrcn~e on AERIAL PHENOMENA Page 10 Dr. LePaz: Due to the foct th:lt they have curve, and p:roctically all. ti!tes during vhich de.rlmeos is with us, why they tend to come in f'ram that direc- tion.... Dr. Br~~hury: Uould it be a t'houer? Dr. IsPo.t.: That wao my tirat el:!)lanat1on, as a Jlltltter of fact. Geminate sh0r.-ers 111th o rnax:trme of Deceober 10 to December 12. The i"ir ~ evidence that I had 1.~r Sgt. Kinaley'o report on De~ember 2 and oinco often the torenumers or the ol~-era will • • • • • I thought ve were t6lking about Geminate ehoirero except ttat I never obacrvcd a green Ge::nina.te. Mttcr of fnct, e. check of obr,c1'Vationo made at tha.t t e found that there uere 414. observations eince 19-5 and tb.ero wmi0t a single one, Geminate or non-Gcninate, for Which any hue of f3Ieen was ucmtio.ned. L!lter, for instance on ~ night of December 12, you coul<i ,m.tch the Gem1na.te c~3 dow.. . . . and notice the.t they Cflma 1n at high angles to the horizontal, whereao the green fireballo . . . . . Incidentally, ve hnve onother interesting piece of eVidence thero - Dr. Shel"!D.lll Smith :t'ram tho Utdversity - I mention en .baervation that h made on the came night. ihe tim- of the oboervation is 1n d1 putc. According to Dr. S?Dith it we probCLbly ao late s 10: 50. He bad to wait for a 10118 till:.e, he so.la., for hie vife to pick him up after the concert -ma over. Mrs. Sm!t.h., ho-vever, times it aroUJJd 10:10. Ubntever the time., witllin cm hour or say an hour and n halt after the green fireball e.nd the horizontal path verc ob5ervcd, 11e have another enreme~ bright bla.e f'ireboll CCC!!e out of' the Gcmin:1te re.yo. I mention this beeauoo some of' the f'irnt persons to concern themselves v.Lth this problem suggeut that the green fireballo 1:rere si:m;ply nbnomally bright Oeni.nntee. Apporently you ce.n have "l'ery l.e.rge Gcminate till.ls of the color eotillla.tcd by a trained ..•... checked wtth the opec~ cbar-'.;s •••.. 1c quite diot!mt, I assure you, f'r<Xll the green f'ireball.o. C<Edr. l" ldelkorn: nov good 1a the covera.ge of the oboervers ~ the Americmi Meteor Society cs far o.o the to:p-lw.11" of the, United Sta.tea is concernedf Dr. LllPaz. It depends a good deal upon overcast conditions. I vould o~, however, that thio year the .t:aetern half ot the country has otter"4 pbenomeml observing conditiono. Ozie of' rr,y reaooru; for vithdraving from Ohio Sto.tc vns that a:fte1· 13 ~o there I had g1ven u_p hope of ever cee:tne a meteorite chower bee uoe during the oeaoon ~ n:sx1mu:m intencity of' the fa.Us w had he:lvy over cact, sr.,0, end oo torth. On the other land, this year they're had rcna011abl.y open ckieE • I have obtained no reports from people 1n the.t part ot the country. 'Pe thought ve had a definitive check bccauae Harvord College has nov installed c. pho'togra!)hic me"b:!or station near or pos ibly inside the Vhite Sanda Pro~"ing Ground. Since the 12th of December, you correct me if I exaggeratf here, uc have been trying to d tel'Ll1ne the color and other cmx-c.cter iGtics of the ten or 12 brighteot meteors ob:..orved at thnt tation. We otill don't knov vhnt they sav. l'1e knov th y were operating and they made ane photogroph.a, but Captain Neef c:m probably tell you the red•t4p0 cbarmellzatiou impediments that hao dropped out any- determina+iozw better then I can.
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