Green Fireballs - Condon Committee Theory

Condon Committee Theory

In the 1969 Condon Committee UFO report, astronomer William K. Hartmann thought the green fireballs might be explained by lunar material ejected during recent meteor impacts on the Moon's surface . Hartmann's reasoning was that such ejected lunar meteors could account for the abnormally low velocities calculated for the green fireballs by LaPaz of about Earth's escape velocity, that is, much lower than normal meteor velocities. Hartmann further claimed, without explanation or elaboration, that "the predicted characteristics match those of the 'green fireball episode'."

However, this theory would not account for the many other anomalous characteristics of the green fireballs detailed by LaPaz, such as strong confinement to the New Mexico area, lime-green color, low altitude yet absence of sound, absence of smoke trail, and absence of meteorite fragments. Despite the entirely speculative nature of Hartmann's hypothesis, it is sometimes cited as scientific fact: for example, astronomer Carl Sagan presented it as such in his Cosmos television series in 1980.