Citing the saucers: astronomy, UFOs and a persistence of vision

This paper consists of two parallel and interweaving investigations regarding the UFO phenomenon and its origins with respect to observational astronomy. First, as a young child, I was fascinated with astronomy and would spend many hours with my toy telescope, viewing blurred images of the night sky. I also held a deep belief in UFOs and was committed to seeing and recording a flying saucer for myself. This led me to fabricate my own UFO photographs and from these I developed a critical relationship with photography as a means of documentation and as a medium of illusionary projection. This paper is therefore partly personal and reflexive. The second thread investigates the advent of the UFO phenomenon as a consequence of nineteenth and early twentieth century developments in observational astronomy, and the speculative theories regarding life on Mars that emerged during this period. I will be considering the work of Giovanni Schiaparelli, Percival Lowell and the writings of Carl Jung. I will be arguing that the primary force that led towards a belief in flying saucers emerged from the speculations and misinterpretations of certain astronomical observations, together with a desire to project upon that which was observed, rather than to see that which was there.