Venus, the most common UFO – and why it will trigger many reports this winter

5 min read

After the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the night sky. Low on the horizon it twinkles and changes color, viewed from a car it "follows us," and on a phone it looks like a disc or a ring. No wonder it is one of the most common causes of UFO reports worldwide. From November 2026 it shines in the southeastern pre-dawn sky, and it will be best visible in mid-December. We show you how to recognize it.

What does it look like?

After the Sun and the Moon, Venus is the brightest object in the sky: its brightness varies between magnitude –3.8 and –4.9, which means it is more than ten times brighter than even the brightest star, Sirius. In clear weather, if you know where to look, it is visible even in daytime.
Only at dusk or dawn. Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth does, so in the sky it never gets farther than 47 degrees from it. At midnight it is never high in the sky. It either shines in the west in the evening after sunset ("evening star"), or in the east and southeast at dawn before sunrise ("morning star").
A steady, white or yellowish-white light that does not blink the way an aircraft does. Low on the horizon, however, it can twinkle and change color (see below).
It does not move visibly. Over a few minutes it does not appear to move. Even over an hour it only slowly rises (at dawn) or sinks (in the evening).

Why does it fool people?

It twinkles and changes color. When Venus is low, its light travels a long path through the atmosphere. Atmospheric turbulence makes it flicker, and the atmosphere acts like a small prism, splitting its light, so from moment to moment it can look red, green or blue. Many people describe this as a "color-changing UFO."
It seems to move on its own. In the dark, if we stare at a point of light for a long time, the tiny movements of our eyes make the point seem to wobble or slowly drift away. This is the autokinetic effect, and it is especially strong when there are no landmarks nearby.
"It follows the car." Nearby trees and houses pass by us quickly, while the very distant Venus always stays in the same place. This makes it seem as though it is traveling along with us. The Moon behaves the same way.
It appears and disappears. Between clouds, Venus suddenly flashes into view and then vanishes, as if it were "switching on and off."
The phone distorts it. In the dark, at high zoom, a phone's autofocus cannot lock onto a point of light and shows it as a blurry disc, a ring or a pulsating "structure."

Real cases

Puente Alto, Chile, 2026. In October, a phone video spread showing an unknown light over Santiago. According to our own calculation, that evening Venus was shining about 9 degrees above the western horizon. Our article on the case.
Wisconsin, USA, 2023. On the evening of March 1, 2023, several police departments received reports of two bright "objects" side by side in the west. Venus and Jupiter were visible close to each other. According to the director of the Milwaukee planetarium, Venus is the object most often reported as a UFO.
Jimmy Carter, 1969. The future U.S. president saw a bright, color-changing object in the west at an event in Georgia. According to UFO researcher Robert Sheaffer, it was Venus, which was very bright that evening and stood in exactly that direction. Carter rejected this, and a later analysis suggested a barium cloud released during a military experiment. The case shows clearly: Venus is often the obvious explanation, but not always the only one.

How can you check?

Check the time and the direction. If you saw an exceptionally bright point in the west after sunset, or in the east or southeast before sunrise, Venus is the first suspect.
Open Stellarium. The program (or stellarium-web.org) shows where Venus stood at the given place and time. If the direction and altitude match, you have your answer.
Look out the next day at the same time. On consecutive days, Venus appears in roughly the same place at the same time. A "UFO" rarely returns to exactly the same spot.
Use binoculars. With stronger binoculars or a small telescope you can see the phase of Venus: like the Moon, it is crescent- or half-disc-shaped. No UFO has this characteristic.

What to expect in the coming months

On October 24, 2026, Venus passed between the Sun and Earth (this is called inferior conjunction), and from early November it is visible in the pre-dawn sky. According to our own calculation, from Budapest:

On November 27 it will be at its brightest (magnitude –4.9). At that time it looks like a thin crescent in stronger binoculars, because only about a quarter of it is illuminated.
In mid-December it will be at its highest: 45 minutes before sunrise it shines about 26 degrees (two and a half fists) above the southeastern horizon, and it already rises about four hours before sunrise.
On January 3, 2027 its distance from the Sun in the sky will be greatest (47 degrees); at that time it will be half illuminated.
By spring it gets lower and lower, and in April it disappears in the dawn light.

So anyone heading off to work or school early in December will see a strikingly bright "star" in the southeast. If it seems strange, it is very likely Venus.

The altitude of Venus above the southeastern horizon 45 minutes before sunrise, from Budapest. Sky Glitch chart

The pre-dawn sky from Budapest on December 15, 2026, at 6:40: Venus is by far the brightest point in the southeast. Sky Glitch chart

Quick identifying features

An exceptionally bright, white or yellowish point
Only in the west after dusk or in the east or southeast at dawn
Does not move visibly over a few minutes
Flickers and changes color when low
Visible again the next day in the same place at the same time

Saw something strange in the sky? Start with our decision tree, and if you can't find the answer, send us the footage!