Carters UFO hounded him for years. Few knew his expertise in astronomy.

After calls with foreign leaders, rap sessions with lawmakers, and long classified briefings with advisers, President Jimmy Carter would often escape to the roof of the White House. 

There his son Jeffrey had set up a tracking telescope, Carter said in his book, A Full Life. Feeling the weight of the world, he would gaze at the stars and contemplate his place among them. 

"I recall one winter night going to the White House roof to study the Orion nebulae, but we could barely see the stars...