PROJECT BLUE BOOK

PROJECT T 10073 RECORD CARD
1. DATE 2. LOCATION Oklahoma City, Oklahom 12. CONCLUSIONS
17 Dec 55 Olathe, Kansas Lincoln, Nebr D Was Balloon
0 Probably Balloon
3. 4. TYPE OF OBSERVATION 0 Possibly Balloon
Local Ground-Visual Ground-Rodar 0 Was Aiscraft
0 Probably Aircraft
GMT 18/0934Z AirVisual Air-Intercept Radar Possibly Aircraft
5. PHOTOS 6. SOURCE Was Astronomical Meteor
Yes 0 Probobly Astronomical
x0 No lcivilian 0 Possibly Astronomicol
7. LENGTH OF.OBSERVATION 8. NUMBER OF OBJECTS . COURSE Other.
000 Insufficient Data for Evoluation
unknown many Unknown
10. BRIEF SUMMARY OF SIGHTING 11. COMMENTS
Many reports from Nebraska, Missouri & Wide area of observation indicates meteor.
Oklahoma of starange ebjects - streaks in the
sky and explosion of some objs that looked
like red and green flares.
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ATIC PORM 329 (REV 26 SEP 52)
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the speed of light.
THE CASE OF THE This will give us the simultaneous
arrival. It also gives us at least two
specific problcms to experiment with:
PU VZZLING SOUNDS 1. How can a fireball send out
radio waves?
Today scientists at the RAND Cor- atmosphere. So if you sce a fireball 2. How are these waves changed
poration are tackling an unsolved mys- 100 miles away you should hear the into sound waves at the point
tery that has been bothering gastrono- sounds about 8 minutes later.. of observation?.
mers for 150 years. The mystery is But all the reports are positive that The modern answers to these questions
about reports that when giant meteors sight and sound come at the same
flash across the sky there are noises too. time!
At first glance this doesn't seem to Of course many of these reports Perhaps It's Electricity
is probably a hundred miles or even tists rejected these reports of hearing
more away ... how come the sound and seeing the fircball at the same time. magnetic field have shown rises during
arrives at the same time as the light? . fireball passage.
The speed of light is 186,000 miles Trying To Solve It Mcteors are sometimes heard a:
per sccond. The speed of sound is only Today's scientists think that the re- statie on ordinary radios, and Canadiar
about 1/5 of a mile per second in the ports mnay be genuine. If so, the simul- physicists have shown that some brigh
.
If you have ever seen bright fireball—and by that we working on this problem. Address your letter to Dr.
mean one t that lights the night sky up as bright as day Donald L. Lamar, RAND Corporation, 1700 Main
or in the daytime stops everyone in their tracks-you Strect, Santa Monica, California 90106.
l. information to the sciéntists who are Do not write CuRnEnt SciencE.

) /UNCLASSIF 1ED/RDCC 1EZIZ REF MSG OTNS
INFORMATION COLLECTED BY ADCC SUBMITTED FOR YOUR INFORMATION PD )
) ABLE ONE DASH STREAK IN SKY ALSO A BIG FLASH ABLE EICHT DASH
BROKEN SOUND ECHO DASH FOUR POSITIONS KNASI1 K KL2505 KLE335 KLE2E8
PD ADCC REMARKS DASH THE LINCOLN NEBR JOURNAL AND LINCOLN
RAILROAD YARD REPORTED LOUD TO MODERATE EXPLOSIONS IN AREA AT
REPORTED TIME PD A BEACHCRAFT FLYING AT 25CO FT IN KANSAS CITY
) AREA REPORTED TO 738TH AC&W SQDN OLATHE KANSAS THAT IT WAS ALMOST
HIT BY SOME RED AND GREEN FLARES PD LOWRY FLIGHT SERVICE AND 33TH )
PAGW TWO RJEDNG 2A -
ADIV ADCC OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA RECEIVED REPORTS OF UNKNOWN
) 7 OF
OBJECTS IN SAME GENERAL AREA PD A SURVEY OF FLYING ACTIVITIES OF
THE 13TH AND 14TH FIS SIOUX CITY IOWA REVEALS NO AIRCRAFT IN AREA
AT TIME OF REPORT PD
BT 1
2 18/0722Z DEC RJED NG

.
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Most people know that you see and hear a high-flying jet plane at different spots in the
sky. This is because sound travels so much slower than does light. However some people
report a "second sound" that seems to come directly from the jel. This may be related to
the fireball problem.
meteors sent out a signal over and This is the older theory. It's a little
above the radar that was trained on hard to confirm with controlled experi-
them. There seems enough evidence to ment. Fireballs s do not come on a The great daylight fireball of Sikhote-Aline
suspect that meteors may s send out schedule. (Russia) brought no reports of sounds. I
did create induced currents in wires near
electromagnetic signals. Another electrical, and very differ- the ground.
ent, hypothesis is based on the fact that
Closing In the earth and atmosphere form a gi-
If these signals do reach the observer gantic electrical condenser.
the next problem is is-how do they get
changed into s sound? Biological Answers 7
For about a quarter of a century, More recently, and more imagina-
the standard hypothesis said that the tively, the lastest theory is that the
"radio" waves from the meteor were electromagnetic radiation from the fire-
changed into sound by non-linear rec- ball is "rectified" (changed to sound)
tification. This simply means that ob- within the body of the observer..
jects near the observer somehow acted Experiments in the last couple of
as natural radio receivers. These would years have shown conclusively that
itself.
according to this theory. . But much more data is needed, and 00*
If waves from the meteor at radio 1
frequencies are thus altered to sound RAND scientists are seeking for vol-
frequencies and the metal is able to unteers. They want to hear from any ENISON
person who has "heard" a fireball. If MAGNETIC VECTOR MINEPAL WELLS
vibrate at these sound frequencies, the you know of such a person send the LIGHT ZONE DALLAS)
sound may become audible. data to the address given in the box on SANTA ANNA FROSI
Thus we have a pattern: LOUD DETONATIONS BRADY -
1. Meteor emits something in the our previous page. Do not send it to MARFA ZONE GEORGETOWN
CUnREnT ScreNce. Scientists are espe- TERLINGUAT LAGRANGE
radio band. This travels at the same cially interested in the reports of young CANANIONO
speed as the light waves. Both then people. Children can hear higher fre-
1 reach the observer together regardless quencies than adults. There is some 50 100
of the distances involved. evidence that they may be better ob- o 100 200d-
2. Some natural oxide-metal near I
servers than their parents. Get. busy
the observer changes the radio to now. The Texas freball of January 10, 1917,
sound. brought many reports of hissing sounds
-WALTER SCOTT HOUSTON simultaneous with the eye sighting. In this
1- ahe erianalne all heard the