José Bonilla Observation

:"José Bonilla redirects here. For other uses, see: Jose Bonilla."On August 12, 1883, the astronomer José Bonilla reported that he had observed 283 objects at Zacatecas Observatory in Mexico, over the course of two hours and 48 more some time later the same day. The objects were small and had a strange light around them. The objects travelled in front of the sun individually or in small groups. Bonilla made what is today deemed the first known UFO photograph. On the next day, José observed another 116 objects.

Bonilla and an assistant were preparing to study the Sun's corona when he saw objects crossing the field of view. The two worked over the next two days to record the transits of these objects using the Observatory's new camera equipment. Bonilla asked the Mexico and Puebla observatory, but no one had seen the phenomenon.

Bonilla said some object showed as circular shadows against the Sun, that they traveled side by side individually or in groups of up to 20 and that they moved across the face of the sun from west to east (right to left).

Bonilla wrote up his observations and submitted them to the French journal "L'Astronomie" in September 1885 ( [http://pagesperso-orange.fr/oncle.dom/paranormal/ovni/cas/zacatecas/sources/lastronomie1885-09.htm text of the original publication (in french)] ). He calculated the objects' motion, speed and estimated distance. He reported them as closer than the moon (i.e. less than 300,000 km). The editor of the journal commented that it might well have been birds, insects or dust.

The implication made by some who interpret UFO phenomena is that these objects were extraterrestrial spacecraft, although this claim was not made by Bonilla. The objects were merely reported as unidentified, and thus could also have been natural objects such as comet debris. Detailled analysis of the optical characteristics of the picture seems to imply that they are probably birds.

References

* [http://www.perceptions.couk.com/bonilla.html Perceptions.couk]
* [http://www.bibleufo.com/ufos6.htm Historical UFO Sightings] (BibleUFO.com)
* [http://pagesperso-orange.fr/oncle.dom/paranormal/ovni/cas/zacatecas/zacat.htm Astronomical study of the photograph] (in french)