Ufos--What Are They?

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

of great discoveries which shocked the world-view of mankind.

Make an effort and imagine that all this very long history of science has suddenly been compressed in time and, so to speak, passed through human consciousness in the course of 10-15 years. But this example is not an abstraction but a reality. This is what will happen to us who live through the next decade in which the volume of scientific information, achieved in the process of cognition, will double. Our minds should be prepared for a fundamental break in many well-established notions.

Need we say that the lion's share of the coming discoveries will probably have to do with space, with that hidden, illimitless area which mankind has only begun to master? Let us put aside prejudice and so-called "healthy thought" which in the well-justified words of G. I. Naan, Academician of the Estonian Academy of Sciences"is the embodiment of the experience and prejudices of one's own time. It is a very unreliable guide when we are dealing with a completely new situation." It is just such a situation which has developed in connection with the problem of unidentified flying objects (UFO), often called "flying saucers."

First of all, does the problem actually exist? Are there really indisputable facts pointing to the existence and reality of UF0s?

More than two decades ago, in May 1946, evidence first appeared concerning strange disc-shaped objects, called saucers, which were seen both from planes and from the surface of the earth. Observers noted that many UFOs displayed enormous speeds and accelerations unbearable by terrestrial organisms. To the category of UFOs were assigned also puzzlings fires in the night sky and mysterious illuminated spheres of various colors. Observers also reported flying saucers which changed intensity in color. It was noted also that in some cases the UFOs caused local magnetic fluctuations; in their presence the needle of a compass fluctuated wildly.

In the book of the American astronomy D. Menzel O Le-tayushchikh tarelkakh (On Flying Saucers) (Publ House of Foreign Literature, 1962) there is a detailed descriptions of many UFO sightings and from the factual point of view one can easily inform himself about this matter from this book. Nevertheless we will present several undeniable facts in order that the reader may understand clearly about what we are talking.