On 6 January 1969, Georgia state senator and Lions Club district governor Jimmy Carter watched a silent, luminous sphere hover over Leary, Georgia while a dozen colleagues waited for their meeting to begin. The object glowed bluish-white, shifted to red, remained visible for roughly ten minutes, and finally receded beyond a stand of pines.
Direct physical traces never surfaced, yet the episode generated extensive documentation. Lions Club records place Carter on site, and in 1973 he completed detailed questionnaires for the International UFO Bureau and NICAP that preserved technical descriptions of color changes, angular size, elevation, duration, and estimated distance.
Personnel
Timeline
Evidence
Assessment
Astronomers confirm Venus stood west-southwest at 23° elevation and magnitude −4.4 at the time, matching direction, brightness, and color scintillation described by the witnesses. Atmospheric refraction near the horizon can inflate apparent size to lunar proportions and induce rapid hue changes, offering a complete, terrestrial explanation.
A competing hypothesis cites a barium ion cloud released from an Eglin AFB sounding rocket twenty minutes later. Such clouds fluoresce blue then red when struck by twilight sunlight at 150 km altitude; computed geometry places the cloud at 33° elevation over Leary, consistent with Carter's account. Both scenarios rely on known phenomena, lack exotic technology, and are supported by documentary records. No radar track or physical debris contradicts these mundane solutions, suggesting the incident reflects human perception limits rather than extraterrestrial visitation.