midnight
They were fired for playing practical jokes on the astronomers . Additional exposures of other newfound objects were made . Again the plates were returned ; this time with three little old cars parading proudly across the heavens as though they truly belonged among the stars . The night the Russian protest crossed trails with the Palomar report , Washington looked like a kid with chicken pox , as dozens of spotty yellow windows marked midnight meetings of the nation 's greatest minds . The military denied responsibility for cars older than 1942 . Civil aviation proved they had no projects involving motor vehicles . Central Intelligence swore on their classification manual they were not dropping junk over Cuba in an attempt to hit Castro .