A research crew looking for Amelia Earhart’s lost plane landed on Nikumaroro, a remote South Pacific island, after satellite images showed a mysterious object resembling an aircraft in its lagoon.
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After nearly 90 years, the mystery behind Amelia Earhart‘s disappearance may finally be solved.
A group of researchers with the Archaeological Legacy Institute and Purdue University landed in Nikumaroro, an uninhabited island in the South Pacific, Oct. 12 in search of the famed pilot’s missing plane after satellite images showed a mysterious shape submerged in a nearby lagoon.
The visual anomaly, dubbed the Taraia Object, is believed to be the Lockheed Model 10-E Electra aircraft Earhart was piloting alongside her navigator Fred Noonan when they vanished in 1937.
But it will be a while before investigators get their answers. After all, they will spend days “marking and cutting a trail through the jungle” from their landing site to Taraia Peninsula, where the lagoon is located, according to a Purdue press release.
In addition, officials said the researchers must sleep on a ship as native coconut crabs—the largest terrestrial crustacean in the world—make staying on the island overnight “impractical.”
But once the crew arrives at Taraia Peninsula, they will be able to use a magnetometer to detect the presence of ferrous metals for potential artifacts, as well as employ sonar technologies to detect objects on the lagoon floor, according to Purdue.
Researchers will then use a water induction dredge to remove sediment for visual inspection of the Taraia Object.
“Based on estimates from aerial photos, the Taraia Object is believed to be located only 10 feet from the lagoon’s shore,” officials explained, “and depending on the tide, under as little as five feet of water, plus a layer of sediment of unknown depth.”
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Earhart was attempting to fly around the world when she lost contact with the U.S. Coast Guard on July 2, 1937. At the time, she and Noonan were believed to be flying to Howland Island, a remote parcel of land located northwest of Nikumaroro.
“It is incredibly rewarding to be this close to completing our inspection of the Taraia Object,” Archaeological Legacy Institute executive director and expedition leader Rick Pettigrew said in a statement, “and potentially solving, at long last, the outstanding mystery of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan more than 89 years ago.”
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