When Astronomers See UFOs

A dangerous misconception exists in the field of ufology that there are no astronomers who have seen UFOs. But nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, there is a long list of famous astronomers who have had remarkable UFO sightings. In 1952, J. Allen Hynek, the astronomical consultant for the Air Force’s Project Blue Book held a conference with a group of astronomers. He asked about UFOs and received some shocking responses. “Over forty astronomers were interviewed,” he said, “of which five had made sightings of one sort or another. This is a higher percentage than among the populace at large.” Researcher Alejandro Rojas of Open Minds, writes “Often people will ask me, ‘If there are so many UFOs, why aren’t astronomers seeing them?’ They are! In fact, astronomers have been some of the most influential advocates for the serious study of UFOs.” This video presents over a dozen accounts from astronomers who have seen UFOs.

In March of 1676, Edmund Halley (the discover of Halley’s comet) observed an object he described as a “vast body apparently bigger than the moon.” He estimates that it was 40 miles high, and moving well over 9000 mph. He would later have other sightings of more unexplained lights in the sky and on the moon, and on March 6, 1716, saw a strange UFO which remained in the sky for 2 full hours.

In 1783, Sir William Herschel (discover of Uranus and several moons throughout our solar system) observed several strange and unexplained lights on the moon. And again. on October 2, 1790, he saw more unexplained lights on the moon’s surface. On several occasions he also reported seeing UFOs in the sky which he described variously as, “round…oval…and disc-shaped,” very much like today’s modern-day UFOs.

On April 12, 1879, astronomer Henry Harrison says that he observed a strange object high in the skies over New York City which remained in view for three hours. He didn’t know it at the time, but another astronomer, Spencer J. Devoe, also saw apparently the same object, and was also unable to identify it. Researcher Morris K Jessup later triangulated the two observations and calculated that the object was no less than a half-mile wide.

On July 10, 1947, only a few days after the famous Roswell UFO crash, leading astronomer Lincoln Lapaz was driving through New Mexico when he and his family saw an elliptical-shaped object high in the clouds. He estimated that the strange object was 160 feet long, 65 feet wide. It was silent and appeared, he said, “self-luminous” against the dark clouds.

Two years later, on August 20, 1949, Clyde Tombaugh (discoverer of Pluto) was with his family in New Mexico when they all saw a “curious bright object” move across the sky and darting off. Tombaugh was impressed, and was unable to explain the sighting as anything but some sort of advanced craft. Says Tombaugh, “This remarkably sudden ascent thoroughly convinced me that we were dealing with an absolute novel airborne device.” Tombaugh later had other sightings and became a vocal proponent of the reality of UFOs.

On February 16, 1950, Dr Charles Shane of the Lick Observatory in Santa Clara, CA saw a “queer object” which he said was “moving unusually swiftly” a across the sky. Unable to identify it, he said, “I call this celestial phenomenon one of the most unusual objects sighted in the sky for a long time.”

On May 20, 1950, Seymour Lester Hess was at famous Lowell Observatory in Arizona when he saw a glowing and “extremely prominent” object moving against the wind at 200 miles per hour across the sky and into a cloudbank. He estimates the object was about five feet wide. He was convinced that it was a manned craft of some kind.

On August 3, 1951, Walter Webb of Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston, Massachusetts saw a glowing object move across the sky in a weird wave-like pattern. Says Webb, “No known object I could think of followed a path like that…my UFO appeared to be a bright, glowing object moving in a regular, wavy pattern.” It changed his views on the subject, and Walter Webb would later become a UFO researcher, a consultant for UFO study groups, and authored many articles and a book on the subject.

On January 25, 1954, during a military exercise, astronomer Robert D Schaldach described his observation of an unexplained “yellow-white” pulsating light move across the sky at White Sands, New Mexico. Unknown to him at the time, another military officer saw the object at the same time, but from a different location. Learning of the other encounter, they decided together to report it to Project Blue Book, writing that the object “was not any kind of meteor.” Officers at Project Blue Book did no investigation, but still concluded that the object “astronomical…meteor.”

On June 11, 1954, Percy Wilkins was flying in a plane over the east coast of the United States when he observed two objects that “looked exactly like polished metal plates reflecting in the sunlight.” He concluded that the objects were likely “built, piloted, and controlled by intelligences that surpass that of humans.”

On November 1, 1955, Frank Halstead of Darling Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota was riding on a train with his wife through Death Valley, California when they observed two strange craft moving over a nearby ridge. Says Halstead, “both objects were very shiny, we noticed. But this second one was definitely disc-shaped… The time is long overdue for accepting the presence of these things.”

Author and pioneering researcher Jacques Vallee needs no introduction and is a towering figure in the UFO field. In 1961, he was with other astronomers at the Paris Observatory in France and tracked an unexplained object. Says Vallee, “I thought, here we are at a renowned institution seeing something we can’t explain, and destroying data for fear of ridicule.”

As can be seen professional astronomers all over the world have been seeing UFOs for a very long time. Even Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb says, “UFOs should be the subject of mainstream inquiry. Science must bring clarity.” The time for skepticism is over. The evidence for UFOs is conclusive. We are not alone!

If you’d like to learn more about UFOs and astronomers, check out my new book, Not from Here Volume Five,” now available!