65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_006

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This might be a picture of flying sauce1·s taken at night over Arizona or New Mexico. It was in fact taken in Dr.!,i.cnzel's laboratory at Harvard University.
THE TRUTH ABOUT
FLYii-{G SAUCEltS
One of America\, leading astronomers goes into his laboratory
at Harvard and disposes of the flying-saucer myth. He adds sim­
ple instructions for making flying saucers in your own kitchen
By Dr. DONALD H. MENZEL
Donald H. l\tenzcl i >!
professor of astro1,hys­
ies and associate direc­
tor of solar rcscarclt at
Harvard University.
His work on flying suu•
cert! was done in re­
sponse to u request
from LOOK. The Air
Force laas expressed a
lively interest in it.
I
SUPPOSE that I should be especially well
qualified to write about flying saucers since
I happen to be one of the few persons who has
actually seen one.
•
My solar studies take me frequently to
Colorado and New Mexico, and I was at the
Holloman Air Base, near Alamogordo, N. M.,
at the height of the flying~saucel' scare. That
very morning, I had glimpsed what seemed to
be several saucers moving overhead- until I
focused my eyes more clearly and recognized
the objects as weather balloons. That after­
noon, I expressed my belief that most of the
saucers could be thus explained. But others in
the group-including several well-known sci­
entists-indicated that there was probably more
to the saucer story than that.
Ea1 ly that evening, I had my second attack
of saucers. I was in the back seat of an auto­
mobile, being driven toward Alamogordo and
admiring the full moon as it rose over Sacra­
mento Peak toward the east. A few degrees
north of the moon, I noticed what seemed to
be a bright star, and then a second star not far
from the first. Casually, I assumed that they
were Castor and Pollux in the constellation of
CONTINUED
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