Nature and possible relationship of the New Mexico green fireballs (1948–1950) to other observed objects

Determine the physical nature of the green fireballs observed over New Mexico during 1948–1950 and ascertain whether these events are causally related to contemporaneous reports of cylinder-, disc-, or sphere-shaped unidentified objects.

Background

Beginning in late 1948, numerous bright green fireballs were observed over New Mexico, including by military and scientific personnel near sensitive installations; despite trajectory analyses and air sampling (e.g., copper content), no meteorites were recovered and their nature remained disputed.

Project Twinkle was created to paper these phenomena but, due to underfunding and equipment limitations, failed to produce definitive results; the authors state the problem remains unresolved regarding the fireballs’ nature and any relation to broadly reported cylinders, discs, or spheres.