17,909Documents 78Collections 1940–2025Years 25+Countries

Declassified UFO / UAP Document

Thinks Venus Taken For Space Satellite

📅 October 1957 📍 Rossland, B.C. 🏛 Penticton Herald 📄 newspaper article
SputnikVenusRosslandKootenayastronomy1957

Ever wanted to host your own late-night paranormal radio show?

Across the Airwaves · Narrative Sim · Windows · $2.95

You're on the air. Callers bring Mothman, Fresno Nightcrawlers, UFO sightings, reptilian autopsies, and whispers about AATIP and Project Blue Book. Every reply shapes how the night goes.

UFO & UAP Cryptids Paranormal Government Secrets Classified Files High Strangeness Strange Creatures
The night is long. The lines are open →

AI-Generated Summary

TL;DR

A 1957 newspaper report details an amateur astronomer's explanation that Kootenay residents likely mistook Venus for the Sputnik satellite. The astronomer argues that Sputnik's high speed makes it impossible to remain visible in one part of the sky for five minutes.

This document is a newspaper article from the Penticton Herald, dated October 25, 1957. It reports on a statement made by an amateur astronomer named R. D. McAllister regarding sightings in Rossland, B.C. Residents of the Kootenay region had reported seeing what they believed to be the Russian earth satellite, Sputnik. McAllister disputes these claims, asserting that the objects observed were actually the planet Venus, often referred to as the 'evening star'. He provides a technical justification for his conclusion, noting that an object visible for five minutes in a single location in the sky cannot be Sputnik. According to McAllister, the satellite's orbital speed of 18,000 miles per hour would necessitate that it cross the horizon in less than five minutes.

Any object that can be viewed for five minutes in one part of the sky is certainly not Sputnik. At 18,000 miles an hour it would cross the horizon in less than five minutes,

Official Assessment

R. D. McAllister believes it was the planet Venus, "the evening star", that persons thought was the satellite.

An amateur astronomer in Rossland, B.C., suggests that Kootenay residents misidentified the planet Venus as the Russian satellite Sputnik. He argues that any object visible for five minutes in one part of the sky cannot be Sputnik, as the satellite's speed of 18,000 miles per hour would cause it to cross the horizon in less than five minutes.

Key Persons

Organizations