Imagination, in its most typical form involves imagery, be it visual, auditory, proprioceptive or associated with some other sensory modality. Further, such imagery can be crucial to the development of novel theories and by that means of scientific discoveries. This raises the questions whether an investigator who lacks phenomenal consciousness (perhaps due to being an aphantasiac, or being an AI), can make a scientific discovery by means of imagination, as well as whether scientific discovery can benefit from unconscious imaginative ideation in a neurotypical human. In this talk, I will offer affirmative answers to both questions. In so doing I shall spell out the idea of unconscious imaginative ideation, and on that basis defend the possibility of imagination driving scientific discovery beyond the scope of phenomenal consciousness.