Documents / Hearing transcript

Symposium on unidentified flying objects: hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, second session, July 29, 1968.

U.S. House of Representatives · 1968-07-29 · 256 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is the printed record of a July 29, 1968 symposium on unidentified flying objects held by the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. J. Edward Roush. The committee heard statements from six scientists: J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald, Carl Sagan, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder and Robert M. L. Baker. It also printed papers from Donald Menzel, Stanton Friedman, Frank Salisbury and others. Hynek argued that puzzling UFO reports from competent witnesses deserve serious scientific study.

  • p. 12 …in a peasant society whose eyes were never turned toward the skies. Can we afford not…
  • p. 13 …for a proper and definitive study will never develop. I recall an encounter I had sometime…
  • p. 16 …A very character- istic statement by those making the reports is: "I have never seen anything…
  • p. 18 …They also usually request anonymity which is always granted. (4) UFO's are never seen at…
  • p. 19 …Other misconceptions are that UFO's are never reported by scien- tifically trained people, are never…
  • p. 20 …it has never been considered worthwhile to improve the data -gathering process because the whole subject…
  • p. 27 …he is looking at something he has never seen before. I like Dr. Hynek's phrase…
  • p. 37 …at the Ontario Hydro Commission plant has never been identified, but initially thetentative suspicion was centered…
  • p. 39 …cover- ing innumerable intriguing cases I had never before heard of, and (above all) after the…
  • p. 43 …diminish in sig- nificance, though they can never be overlooked. A frequent objection to serious consideration…
  • p. 45 …out- of-the-way rural areas but never over large cities? Why don't large groups…
  • p. 48 …Smith emphasized that they were never certain of sizes and distances, but that they had the…
  • p. 53 …is deceased), I believe that there has never been any dispute as to the observed facts…
  • p. 59 …Many other sources could be cited to show that the intimation that UFOs are never seen…
  • p. 65 …After the 'official "explanation" was publicized, he decided he'd never report another one. I predict…
  • p. 68 …In the ensuing two decades, he has never again seen anything like it. Clearly, the probability…
  • p. 69 …Moore never got a sufficiently clear view to identify any finer details if any were present…
  • p. 75 …the past twenty years, cases that ought never have been so labelled, had the evaluators kept…
  • p. 76 …Ground radar stations never detected the unknown that was seen visually and contacted by airborne radar…
  • p. 77 …strong, bright pips, said that "anomalous propagation never entered our heads as an explanation." Howard S…
  • p. 78 …7) but could never close with the unknown as its continued on its north- bound course…
  • p. 80 …All three said they had never before seen anything like it. Munger decided to phone his…
  • p. 81 …The photos were shortly taken by Base military authorities and were never seen again by the…
  • p. 87 …referred to repeatedly in Menzel's writings, never with any quantitative discussion of precisely what he…
  • p. 100 …visual observations of classical UFO's have never been made by profes- sional astronomers. For example…
  • p. 101 …how the promised political or social intervention never materializes. Psychological Factors. The psychologist Carl Jung pointed…
  • p. 125 …Oh, heavens, I never suggested that, I hope. Mr. BOONE. Well, let me say, science fiction…
  • p. 159 …He has not ever been exposed to any toxic substances, has never had to take any…
  • p. 168 …He said he had never had the experience of deja-vu episodes or of performing acts…
  • p. 171 …It never occurred to him to call anyone else's attention to the light (probably because…
  • p. 172 …He had never seen anything like it before and in fact had never previously had the…
  • p. 173 …He has taken only two sick days in the entire five years and is never late…
  • p. 174 …He never has fantasied actively taking his own life, however, and feels it would be very…
  • p. 175 …He never was one to participate in extracurricular activities, but always maintained a part-time job…
  • p. 176 …Prior to seeing that light, he apparently never experienced a deja vu, or any illusory or…
  • p. 194 …If the observer being studied is truly sociopathic and has never de- veloped a super -ego…
  • p. 203 197 This data, which most people have never seen or even heard of, is published in…
  • p. 206 …They never have had enough sCientists in the project. They have failed to follow up certain…
  • p. 221 …Isn't it true that UFOs have never been sighted on radar? No, it is not…
  • p. 243 …make such an all- inclusive negative statement. Never- theless, many of the arguments are highly compelling…
  • p. 244 …A balloon reported as a UFO was never out of sight of its launchers. A perplexing…
  • p. 247 …al- though he apologizes because he has never had the time to make a thorough search…
  • p. 249 …two leads appeared, but other witnesses could never be located), but his ap- parent sincerity was…
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139
camera was kept stationary the average angular velocities for the object moving
across the field are 0.039 and 0.031 radians per second. The angular velocities in
these sequences sometimes vary erratically from 0.07 to 0.01 radians per second.
This variation may be attributed in part to camera "jiggling" and in part to the
object's motion. The decrease in average angular velocity could be due to the
object's having regressed between filmings just as was reported by Newhouse.
Also the average image diameter decreases about 30% over the entire film, in-
dicating a possible over-all regression of the objects.
The following tabulation indicates the hypothetical transverse component of
relative velocities and accelerations at various distances. It is noted that the
transverse velocity may be only a fraction of the total velocity so that the
numbers actually indicate minimum values.
If the object's
distance was— Its transverse
velocity was— Its transverse ac-
celeration was— Velocity of
single object was-
100 ft 0.65 ft./sec. or 0.44 m.p.h 0.36 ft./sec.1 or 0.11g 3.8 ft./sec. or 2.7 m.p.h.
1,000 ft 6.5 ft./sec. or 4.4 m.p.h 3.6 ft./sec.1 or 0.11 g 39 ft./sec. or 27 m.p.h.
2,000 ft 13 ft./sec. or 8.8 m.p.h 7.2 ft./sec.1 or 0.22 g 78 ft./sec. or 54 m.p.h.
1 mile 23 m.p.h 0.56 g 135 m.p.h.
5 miles 115 m.p.h 2.8 g 670 m.p.h.
10 miles 230 m.p.h 5.6 g 1,300 m.p.h.
The objects in the "Utah" and "Montana" films can only be correlated on the
basis of two rather weak points. First, their structure, or rather lack of it,
is similar. Thus as shown in the "blow-ups" there are no recognizable differences
between them*. Second, the objects on the "Montana" film are manifestly a
single pair; on the "Utah" film perhaps 30% of the frames show clusters of
objects seemingly also grouped in pairs.
The weather report was obtained by the author from the Airport Station at
Salt Lake City. The nearest station with available data is Corinne which
reported a maximum temperature of 84°, a minimum of 47° and no precipitation.
A high ,pressure cell from the Pacific Northwest spread over Northern Utah
during July 2, the pressure at Tremonton would have a rising trend, the visibility
good, and the winds relatively light. The absence of clouds and the apparently
excellent visibility shown on the films would seem to be in agreement with
this report. Through use of References (2) and (3), the Sun's azimuth N132°E
altitude 65° was computed. No shadows were available to confirm the time of
filming.
The image size being roughly that of the Montana film (a few of the objects
being perhaps 10% larger than the largest on the Montana) the same remarks
as to airplane reflections apply, i.e., they might have been caused by Sun
reflections from airplanes within one to three miles to the observer, although
at these distances they should have been identified as conventional aircraft by
the film or the observer. No specific conclusions as to Sun reflection angles
can be drawn since the line of motion of the objects cannot be confirmed. How-
ever, the reported E to W motion of the UFO's and their passing overhead
coupled with the SE azimuth of the Sun would make the achievement of
optimal Sun reflections rather difficult.
That the images could have been produced by aluminum foil "chaff"** seems
possible, at least on the basis of the images shown, as very intense specular
Sun reflections from ribbons of chaff might flare out to about the size of the
UFO's.
Examination of film frames obtained from the photogrammetric experiment—
reference Analysis of Photographic Material, Serial 01, Appendix II, show
that no significant broadening is produced by fiat white diffuse reflectors such
as birds, bits of paper, etc. at f/16 under the conditions of the filming. Actual
measurements show a slight "bleeding" or flaring of about 10% to 20%.
The rectangular flat white cardboards of the aforementioned experiments repre-
sented very roughly the configuration of birds. The light reflected by such a
surface is probably greater than that from a curved feather surface of a bird.
*The images on the "Utah" film appear to be a little brighter. However, possible varia-
tions in development techniques would not allow quantitative analysis in this regard.
**Bits of aluminum foil dumped overboard by planes, often utilized as a countermeasure
against antiaircraft radar. This material might possibly be in the form of large ribbons
several feet long and several inches across.

Cases discussed

About this file

Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.