◆ SpookStack

Look VOLUME 16, NUMBER 13 JUNE 17, 1952 This might be a picture of flying saucers taken at night over Arizona or New Mexico. It was in fact taken in Dr. Wi — 4 a i ; aa rn eee enzel’s laboratory at Harvard University. THE TRUTH ABOUT FLYING SAUCERS — One of America’s 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. Menzel is professor of astrophys- ics and associate direc- tor of solar research at Harvard University. His work on flying sau- cers was done in re- sponse to a request from LOOK. The Air Force has expressed 2 lively interest in it. suPPosE that I should be especially well iT 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 Holtoman Air Base, near Alamogordo, N. M., at the height of the flying-saucer 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. Early 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 35