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A new high-resolution print of what has been called “the most convincing UFO photo ever” has been released 50 years after it was first taken.
Aerial photographer Sergio Loaiza was using a 100lb map-making camera as he flew over Costa Rica on a mission to survey land ahead of the construction of a hydroelectric project near the Arenal Volcano in the South American country’s northern highlands.
As he flew over Lake Cote at an altitude of around 10,000 feet, Loaiza took multiple high resolution black and white photos of the lake and surrounding rainforest at 20 second intervals.
In one frame, time-stamped at 8:25am, a shiny metallic disc – a classic alien “flying saucer” can be seen apparently flying between Loaiza’s twin-engined Aero Commander F680 aircraft and the ground.
The object is visible only in frame number 300 of the series of photos, and there’s on sign of it in either the previous frame of film or on the one taken immediately afterwards.
No one — not the pilot nor his three crew members — saw a thing during the actual flight.
Depending on the exact altitude of the object, it is believed to have been between 120 and 220 feet across.
Despite close analysis from UFO sceptics, Loaiza’s image has never been explained.
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Despite theories that the “super” could have been a chance reflection from a the lake or even a teapot lid, attempts to create a “fake” version of the image using technology of the time were unsuccessful.
“It’s one of the most compelling scientific confirmations that UFOs are real,” says Oscar Sierra, a UFO researcher based in Costa Rica.
UFO research group UAP Media has obtained a new ultra-high resolution drum scan of the original image.
A statement from UAP Media says that researchers Richard Haines and Jacques Vallee, who published the original photo, had been asked not to talk about it by Loaiza’s employers – The National Geographic Institute of Costa Rica.
Over the years Loaiza’s stunning photo began to be forgotten, but it returned to public consciousness thanks to an April 2021 article in the New Yorker, entitled “How the Pentagon Started Taking UFOs Seriously”.
New York Times reporter Leslie Kean, describing the image as “the best photograph of a UFO ever taken” said: “There was this disc object and you clearly see the sun reflecting off this round object that’s got a little dot on the top and what’s important about it is that it was a government photo.
"There’s a clear chain of custody. It’s always been in possession of the Costa Rican government so you know it’s authentic and it’s completely unexplained.”
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