Case file · Government program
Project Twinkle (green fireballs)
A US Air Force effort to photograph and triangulate the 'green fireballs' seen over New Mexico's atomic sites.
1949 CE · 35.88, -106.30 · status: official
The account
From late 1948, bright green fireballs were reported near Los Alamos, Sandia and other sensitive installations. Meteor expert Lincoln LaPaz of the University of New Mexico argued they didn't behave like normal meteors. Project Twinkle set up observation posts, but it produced little usable data and was wound down in the early 1950s.
The sceptical view
The mainstream view is that they were unusually bright bolides (meteors). Green colouring is common in fireballs rich in certain metals.
Connections in the atlas
- Green fireballs, New Mexico
- ? Can ball lightning explain UFO reports?
- Roswell incident