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The Taraia Object is the commonly used name for a visual anomaly in the lagoon of Nikumaroro Island in the south Pacific Ocean. Its location is alongside the Taraia Peninsula, which projects southwestward from the north side of the lagoon. The Object is visible in satellite images, aerial photos, drone footage, and video footage of the lagoon. Its location is directly east of the Tatiman Passage, which connects the lagoon to the open ocean. (Satellite image)

A South Carolina man believes he may have discovered the plane Amelia Earhart was flying when she vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Tony Romeo turned his fascination with the legendary pilot into an adventure when he embarked on an ambitious search for Earhart's lost plane. Romeo, who sold his commercial property investments to fund his search, managed to take a sonar image of an aircraft-shaped object on the ocean floor in December. Earhart and her Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra vanished at the height of her fame, a mystery that has spawned decades...

What happened to famed US pilot Amelia Earhart? A startling theory suggests Australian soldiers stumbled on the answer decades ago. In the autumn of 1945, a troop of young Australian soldiers was trudging through the muddy rainforests of New Britain, an island in the east of what is now Papua New Guinea. In that part of the world autumn is much like winter, spring and summer — it rains a lot and it’s hot and humid. The Australians of D Company, 11th Battalion, were doing reconnaissance in the mountains not far from the town of Rabaul on April 17. They...

Richard Jantz, an emeritus anthropology professor at the University of Tennessee, argues that bones discovered on the Pacific island of Nikumaroro in 1940 were likely Earhart’s remains. The research contradicts a forensic analysis of the remains in 1941 that described the bones as belonging to a male. ... One well-publicized theory is that Earhart died a castaway after landing her plane on the remote island of Nikumaroro, a coral atoll 1,200 miles from the Marshall Islands. Some 13 human bones were found on Nikumaroro, also known as Gardner Island, three years after Earhart’s disappearance. In 1941, the bones were analyzed...

A scientific study claims to shed new light on the decades-long mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart. Richard Jantz, an emeritus anthropology professor at the University of Tennessee, argues that bones discovered on the Pacific Island of Nikumaroro in 1940 were likely Earhart’s remains. The research contradicts a forensic analysis of the remains in 1941 that described the bones as belonging to a male. The bones, which were subsequently lost, continue to be a source of debate. Earhart, who was attempting to fly around the world, disappeared with navigator Fred Noonan on July 2, 1937, during a flight from...

The History Channel documentary, Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence, which aired in the US on Sunday, made the claim that the American and her navigator, Fred Noonan, ended up in Japanese custody based on a photograph discovered in the US national archives that purported to show them standing at a harbour on one of the islands. The film said the image “may hold the key to solving one of history’s all-time greatest mysteries” and suggested it disproved the widely accepted theory that Earhart and Noonan disappeared over the western Pacific on 2 July 1937 near the end of their attempt...

A newly discovered photograph suggests legendary aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished 80 years ago on a round-the-world flight, survived a crash-landing in the Marshall Islands. The photo, found in a long-forgotten file in the National Archives, shows a woman who resembles Earhart and a man who appears to be her navigator, Fred Noonan, on a dock. The discovery is featured in a new History channel special, "Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence," that airs Sunday. Independent analysts told History the photo appears legitimate and undoctored. Shawn Henry, former executive assistant director for the FBI and an NBC News analyst, has studied...

Could one of aviation's most enduring mysteries be solved? An aircraft recovery group says it may already have a part of Amelia Earhart's plane, and it thinks it knows where to find the rest of it. The International Historic Aircraft Recovery Group says new testing of a piece of metal found in the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean in 1991 gives the group "increasing confidence" that it's a part of the Lockheed Electra. In a press release the group argues that the aluminum debris is likely a patch that Earhart had put on her plane in place of a...

A new examination of skeletal remains found on a remote Pacific island three years after the trailblazing pilot went missing suggest she died as a castaway — not in a plane crash, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery reported.

Legendary aviator Amelia Earhart was attempting to become the first female pilot to fly around the world when her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937. Last month, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) proposed the theory that she landed her plane safely on a remote island and died as a castaway. Now, scientists say a new discovery shows a striking similarity between the pilot and the partial skeleton of a castaway found on an island of Kiribati in 1940.

DID Amelia Earhart survive her plane crash? This is the most likely theory, with evidence emerging that she was making contact for days after her plane disappeared.The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) believes Earhart safely landed her plane when it disappeared in 1937 and died as a castaway. During a presentation in the US last month, TIGHAR’s Ric Gillespie backed up all of the group’s theories. Earhart’s plane was last seen on the radar on July 2, 1937. After becoming the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, she embarked on a mission to fly...

Amelia Earhart's plane may have been found. It's the $1 million Timothy Mellon kicked in for the latest search that he thinks has gone missing. The son of late philanthropist Paul Mellon is suing The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, claiming it hit him up for the money last year knowing the wreckage from the 1937 flight had been found underwater two years before. A Mellon attorney says experts examining 2010 photos came to a "definitive conclusion" that it was the Earhart plane, but TIGHAR lawyer and searcher Bill Carter disputes profiting from hiding the discovery. "Just the opposite,"...

TIGHAR is able to share details of our search for a conclusive answer to the Earhart mystery thanks to the international agreement signed in Washington, DC on March 20, 2012. The Republic of Kiribati, the sovereign nation of which Nikumaroro is a part, has granted TIGHAR the exclusive right to conduct research, search, and recovery operations related to the Earhart disappearance within the national borders of Kiribati. No one is authorized to undertake Earhart related search, recovery of artifacts or research within the boundaries of Kiribati (including Nikumaroro) without authorization from both the government of Kiribati and TIGHAR.

(Reuters) - A team of researchers trying to solve the mystery of aviator Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance said on Friday that underwater video from a Pacific island has revealed a field of man-made debris that could be remnants of her plane. The footage was collected in July by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) during a $2.2 million expedition to Nikumaroro in the Republic of Kiribati. Unsolved questions about Earhart's fate have long heightened her legendary status as a pioneering aviator, and TIGHAR's voyage to seek clues in her disappearance gained interest far beyond the shores of the...

It’s Time To Stop Looking For Amelia Earhart On July 2nd, 1937, Amelia Earhart's attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world came to an abrupt end over the Pacific Ocean. She lost radio contact with Itasca, the Coast Guard ship that was serving as her radio contact, and the plane supposedly went down near the tiny atoll of Howland Island. Now, 75 years and uncounted millions of dollars later, we haven't found a trace of Earhart, her plane, or Fred Noonan, her navigator. Today is Earhart's 115th birthday, and it's time for us as a society...

"I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it," Earhart said before she left. Now, a group of historians, salvage workers and scientists think they know

Amelia Earhart: Why is Hillary Clinton backing new search? (+video)By Peter Grier | Christian Science Monitor – 14 hrs ago Hillary Clinton and the US State Department are backing a new search for the remains of Amelia Earhart and her famous Lockheed Electra 10E. In doing so they are attempting to help solve one of the 20th century’s most famous mysteries: What happened to Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan when they disappeared in the Pacific on the fateful day of July 2, 1937. **SNIP** Why the US support for this effort? Well, for one thing, Clinton herself is something of...

A new clue in one of the 20th century’s most enduring mysteries could soon uncover the fate of American aviator Amelia Earhart, who went missing without a trace over the South Pacific 75 years ago, investigators said Tuesday. Enhanced analysis of a photograph taken just months after Earhart’s Lockheed Electra plane vanished shows what experts think may be the landing gear of the aircraft protruding from the waters off the remote island of Nikumaroro, in what is now the Pacific nation of Kiribati, they said.

These are the last images of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart as she prepared for her round-the-world flight during which she mysteriously disappeared. Among the pictures is one of the Lockheed Electra 10E, the plane that was used for her doomed circumnavigation attempt in 1937. She is also poignantly captured packing for the journey and getting her hair cut at a barber's shop in Miami.

US aircraft history buffs are hopeful that tiny bones along with artefacts from the 1930s found on a remote Pacific island may reveal the fate of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart. In one of aviation's most enduring mysteries, Earhart took off from Lae, in what is now Papua New Guinea, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe via the equator in 1937 and was never seen again. A massive search at the time failed to find the flyer and her navigator Fred Noonan, who were assumed to have died after ditching their Lockheed Electra aircraft in the ocean, according to the Amelia...