Project 10073 Record — Saugerties, New York, 16 January 1966

On 16 January 1966, at 0800Z, two witnesses in Saugerties, New York, reported observing an unidentified aerial phenomenon for approximately one hour and thirty minutes. The witnesses, an IBM writer and a housewife, described a white, football-shaped object at an elevation of 30 degrees in the Northwest. They reported that three smaller objects appeared to move out of the larger object and travel to the West, trailing very dim exhaust. The object itself was observed moving in a westerly direction and returning to the Northwest, repeating this course several times before eventually fading from sight to the West. The weather conditions were clear, with a strong temperature inversion noted between the surface and 14,000 feet. The New York State Police reportedly confirmed the sighting, noting that two patrolmen also observed the object. 2nd Lt Thomas S. Waller of the 4713th Defense Systems Evaluation Squadron investigated the report and concluded that the sighting was likely a phenomenon associated with the temperature inversion, specifically identifying the object as the planet Jupiter, which was setting at the time. A potential photograph of the object was mentioned, though it had not yet been developed at the time of the report.