Bright Reddish UFO
Air Force contract solar astronomer, Donald H. Menzel, of Harvard Observatory, was being driven by military car from Holloman AFB, on Hwy 70 just outside the base, en route to Alamogordo.
When shortly after leaving the base he saw a bright reddish star Antares East of the nearly Full Moon.
Estimated to be 15° to 18° above the ridge line rising above the Sacramento Mountain ridge.
Shortly afterward he noticed first one small round white light low about 3° to 4° over the ridge to the lower left of the Moon and star and then another identical light to the right of the first and in horizontal line, about 3° apart, seemingly over Moore Ridge, summit 7,264' 15 miles away.
Each light was white, with possibly slight greenish tinge, the left one slightly brighter, both increasing in brightness as if possibly rising above a haze layer.
Both initially fuzzy, but apparently sharpening in edge contrast.
Each light disappeared one after the other before the car could be stopped.
Menzel estimated that as the car traveled 50 mph it created a 3 mile baseline over which he nevertheless noticed no perceptible change in the lights, azimuths, or perhaps no more than 1° to 2°, hence a distance he calculated at 180 miles and object diameter about 4,000', corrected to 2,300'.