A 50-year-old photograph is making a buzz on the internet after claims that it shows an unidentified flying object (UFO). Published by a number of media outlets and shared widely on Twitter, the black and white photo shows a saucer-like object over Costa Rica.
Users say that this is the best photograph of a UFO (believed to be used by aliens) ever taken. It was clicked by aerial photographer Sergio Loaiza in September, 1971, as he flew over Costa Rica on a mission to survey land for the construction of a hydroelectric project, according to a report in Daily Star.
The project was planned near the Arenal Volcano in the South American country.
Mr Loaiza took multiple high resolution photos from an altitude of 10,000 feet of the lake below and surrounding rainforest at 20-second intervals using his automated 100lb camera.
In one of the frames, a shiny metallic disc is seen flying between Mr Loaiza's Aero Commander F680 aircraft and the ground. The photo was not very clear initially, but the claims about UFO started swirling around only when it was enhanced later.
That photo was the property of National Geographic Costa Rica, which had ordered the survey to be carried out, to study the potential impact of the hydroelectric project on surrounding land and water.
It has now been released by Esteban Carranza, a citizen of Costa Rica (Twitter handle @UAP_CR). Mr Carranza has the "contact" copy of the original negative present in the National Archives of Costa Rica. He acquired it from his uncle who obtained the copy from the National Geographic Institute.
"I made this high res scan last year, met with people on the National Geographic Institute and tracked the technician in charge of the camera back in 1971. But there's no reason for the image to sit on my desktop. Disclosure is a team effort and everyone should have this image," Mr Carranza said on Twitter.
UAP Media, which used the image, said it has never been successfully debunked to this day.
“Over the years the image has been analysed by various experts such as Costa Rican UFO researcher Ricardo Vílchez, Dr Richard Haines and Dr Jacques Vallée. They all concluded that the object in the photograph appeared real and was NOT the result of double exposure or a deliberate fabrication,” UAP Media said on its website.
The object in the photo is estimated to be between 120-220 feet in diametre.
