Bob Berman

Of all the UFOs reported, a significant number turn out to be sightings of the planet Venus. In the following article, Bob Berman comments on this tendency of even skyknowledgeable people to confuse natural sky lights with UFOs. Berman is an astronomer, pilot, and author of Secrets of the Night Sky.

You'd think everyone could identify Venus. For backyard astronomers, recognition is automatic; it's as challenging as locating the moon. Yet most people are clueless about that dazzling "star"-some even grab the phone and report an Unidentified Flying Object.

Jimmy Carter did, while governor of Georgia. The Evening Star's brilliance so puzzled and concerned him that he alerted the State Police. And in World War II, a squadron of B—29s returning from a mission over Japan grew increasingly anxious about a bright light that seemed to follow them. They...