even to suggest it in the first place." Months later, in the secret
Project "Saucer" report released December 30, 1949, I found official
confirmation of this astronomer's opinions. Since it has a peculiar
bearing on the Mantell case, I am quoting it now:

When Venus is at its greatest brilliance, it is possible to see it
during daytime when one knows exactly where to look. But on
January 7, 1948, Venus was less than half as bright as its peak
brilliance. However, under exceptionally good atmospheric
conditions, and with the eye shielded from direct rays of the sun,
Venus might be seen as an exceedingly tiny bright point of light.
. . . However, the chances of looking at just the right spot are
very few.
It has been unofficially reported that the object was a Navy
cosmic-ray research balloon. If this can be established, it Is to
be preferred as an explanation. However, if one accepts the
assumption that reports from various other localities refer to the
same object, any such device must have been a good many miles
high--25 to 50--in order to have been seen clearly, almost
simultaneously, from places 175 miles apart.
If all reports were of a single object, in the knowledge of this
investigator no man-made object could have been large enough and
far enough away for the approximate simultaneous sightings. It is
most unlikely, however, that so many separated persons should at
that time have chanced on Venus in the daylight sky. It seems
therefore much more probable that more than one object was
involved.
The sighting might have included two or more balloons (or
aircraft) or they might have included Venus and balloons. For
reasons given above, the latter explanation seems more likely.