SUBJECT: 3/88 LAKE ERIE UFO REPORT                           FILE: UFO1378 


The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Monday, March 7, 1988
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COZYING OF JUPITER, VENUS LIGHT UP SKY

      Reports of unidentified flying objects are being made, and the most
likely explanation is the rare alignment of Jupiter and Venus.
      Some Fairport Harbor residents reported seeing UFOs and large bright
objects hovering over Lake Erie over the weekend.
      The Fairport Harbor Coast Guard went to the area and saw a large
bright object that seemed to disperse smaller, brightly colored objects.
But when they called the Greater Cleveland air traffic controllers, they
learned that Jupiter and Venus were in alignment and that the colors were
the result of spontaneous gas emissions from the two planets.
      Its the celestial equivalent of a colorful floor show, says Charles
B. Stephenson, a professor of astronomy at Case Western Reserve
University.
      The Earth's atmosphere helps create the color sensation, in the same
way that distant stars appear to twinkle.


              
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