The Astronomer Who May Have Mapped His Own Eyeball

Percival Lowell was one of the most influential—and controversial—astronomers of the early 20th century. A wealthy Bostonian who founded his own observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Lowell became obsessed with the idea that intelligent life existed on Mars. His detailed maps of Martian "canals" captivated the public and inspired generations of science fiction.

But there's a twist to this story that's almost too strange to believe.

The Canals That Launched a Thousand Stories

In 1894, Lowell began his systematic observations of Mars, producing intricate drawings of what he claimed were artificial waterways crisscrossing the red planet. He argued these canals were engineering marvels built by a dying Martian civilization desperate to transport water from the polar ice caps.

The scientific community was skeptical. Other astronomers, using similar equipment, couldn't see the canals Lowell described. Yet Lowell remained convinced until his death in 1916, publishing three books defending his theories.

Then Came Venus

Lowell didn't limit himself to Mars. He also turned his telescope toward Venus, where he claimed to observe spoke-like markings radiating from the planet's center. He mapped these features meticulously, convinced he was documenting another world's geography.

Here's where things get weird.

Decades later, researchers examining Lowell's Venus observations proposed an unsettling explanation. The "spokes" he drew bore a suspicious resemblance to something much closer to home: the pattern of blood vessels in a human retina.

Looking Inward Instead of Outward

The theory suggests that Lowell's telescope setup—particularly the way he positioned his eye at the eyepiece—may have created conditions where he was essentially observing the shadow of his own blood vessels projected onto the image of Venus. The planet's bright, featureless clouds would have provided the perfect blank canvas for this optical illusion.

It's a humbling possibility: one of history's most passionate planetary observers may have been so eager to find patterns on other worlds that he accidentally mapped his own anatomy.

A Legacy of Looking

To be fair to Lowell, his contributions to astronomy extended far beyond his controversial canal claims:

• He predicted the existence of "Planet X" beyond Neptune—a search that eventually led to Pluto's discovery (by Clyde Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory)
• His observatory remains a world-class research institution today
• His popular writings made planetary science accessible to millions

The Mars canals turned out to be optical illusions too—tricks of the eye and brain that connected random surface features into linear patterns. Modern spacecraft have mapped Mars in extraordinary detail, revealing a world of ancient river valleys and impact craters, but no artificial canals.

As for the Venus spokes? They've never been observed by anyone else. Whether Lowell was seeing atmospheric phenomena, instrumental artifacts, or literally the inside of his own eyeball remains a matter of speculation.

Either way, his story serves as a reminder that in science, the observer is always part of the observation—sometimes more literally than we'd like to admit.