UFO identified as Venus in 1957

Summary

In November 1957, a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer documented a UFO sighting near Finland AFS, Minnesota. The report detailed that the object was observed for one and a half hours by several witnesses, including military personnel and a civilian. It was described as round or oval, with colors ranging from bluish-white to red. Despite the varied descriptions, precise data on elevation, direction, and azimuth identified it as the planet Venus, which was unusually bright at the time.

The official conclusion of the case was that the object was not a balloon, nor an aircraft, but an astronomical body. In fact, newspapers and magazines had already highlighted Venus's unusual visibility in the night sky. The report even included a newspaper clipping in the case file. Although some witnesses mentioned color changes and slow movements, these were attributed to human perception and the planet's position in the sky. The officer in charge, after interviewing all involved, concluded there was no evidence of an unidentified object, but rather a common astronomical phenomenon.