NEW HIGH RESOLUTION SCAN OF “EXTRAORDINARY” UAP IMAGE
Is this the best UFO photo ever? (Source: Instituto Geográfico Nacional de Costa Rica)
ON SEPTEMBER 4th 1971, on board a twin-engine Aero Commander F680 aeroplane, an automated camera captured an image of a “flying saucer”, which to this day has never been successfully debunked.
The National Geographic Institute of Costa Rica was studying the potential impact on surrounding land and water of a hydroelectric project in the vicinity of the Arenal Volcano in the northern highlands.
At 10,000 feet, aerial photographer Sergio Loaiza activated the 100lb map-making camera. At 20 second intervals, the camera shot images of the water and rainforest in high resolution black and white.
None of the occupants were aware of what the camera had captured that morning. Even after the film was developed and the negatives filed away, they did not realise what they had captured.
Eventually, after pulling out the negatives to study potential ways to connect Lake Cote with the nearby Arenal Lagoon, they noticed the anomalous object hovering over Lake Cote.
On frame number 300, with a timestamp of 8.25am, the image shows what appears to be a shiny metallic disc on the right of the photograph. Over the years, the object’s size has been estimated to be between 120-220 feet in diameter.
Naturally the individuals were excited as to what they might have captured but this was short lived as the higher ups at the National Geographic Institute quickly told them not to talk about it. Why were they told this? And when did that change? Obviously they were allowed to talk about it at some point, and the study by Haines and Vallée was published. I have always thought that the government was to be commended for being transparent… so this is a surprise..
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.
The analysis by Dr Richard Haines and Dr Jacques Vallée can be found here:
Photo Analysis of an Aerial Disc Over Costa Rica
Photo Analysis of an Aerial Disc Over Costa Rica: New Evidence
Over time multiple naysayers and debunkers have offered prosaic explanations to explain the object, ranging from lens reflection to a teapot lid amongst other things. The fact remains that to this day it hasn’t been proven as to what exactly the photograph shows.
In 2021, interest in the image was brought back into the public realm when it was mentioned in an article in the New Yorker, “How the Pentagon Started Taking UFOs Seriously”, by Gideon Lewis-Kraus, published April 30th 2021. In the article, it is mentioned that a copy of the image hangs on a wall behind the desk of author and journalist Leslie Kean.
It’s important in this day and age to stress the importance of striving for good data when attempting to legitimise and study this subject.
“This photograph of a UFO may be the most extraordinary one ever released by government officials. We have no idea what comparable or even better images are hidden in classified files within the United States Department of Defense. I’m grateful to the government of Costa Rica for its transparency. I am also grateful to Esteban for the efforts he has made to acquire the best possible rendition of this historic photograph.”
Recently, UAPMedia UK acquired a ‘drum scan’ copy of the photograph from Esteban Carranza, citizen of Costa Rica (Twitter user @UAP_CR).
Esteban Carranza has a 40+ year old 8x10 negative, which is a “contact” copy of the COTE UFO original negative that resides in the National Archives of Costa Rica. He acquired this from his late uncle, who passed away last year. He obtained it back in the late 70s - early 80s from the National Geographic Institute.
He recently visited Sergio Loaiza, who was the technician in charge of the camera at the moment the picture was snapped. All 3 technicians flying in the mapping plane (in addition to the pilot) had received aerial photography training from the US Army Map Service. When Esteban Carranza showed Loaiza the negative, he was pretty excited! He believes the contact copy might have been made around 1975, since by the time the negative became famous in the 80s, it already had a lot of scratches from its manipulation.
Last year Esteban Carranza sent the negative to a photo laboratory in Kansas, by the name of Michael Strickland Photography. He used a Tango Drum Scanner and produced a very high-quality scan of 1.7GB in size. A drum scanner acts essentially as a precision digital camera, used to scan reflective and transparent materials at an extremely high resolution. It captures the image with analog light, producing the most detail possible in each color channel and then converts it to a digital file.
Comparison of old and new crops of the Lake Cote image (old on left, new on right).
Below is the previous and subsequent frames from the series of photographs taken on that flight. No UAP is visible.
OUR ANALYSIS (MAY 2022)
Here are the thoughts of the UAPMedia UK team, with additional comment from the former head of the Pentagon’s AATIP program, Luis Elizondo, and documentary film maker, Jeremy Corbell.
Graeme Rendall - Author of UFOs Before Roswell and Flying Saucer Fever: "It's a really intriguing photograph, and one which totally captures the imagination. I'm always impressed as to how "right" it looks. As to its veracity, though, I can't say, but I'd love it to be true. It definitely looks a lot more convincing than a lot of other images I've seen over the years. I'd have to leave it to the photo analysis experts to pronounce sentence on it though.”
Andy McGrillen - Host of That UFO Podcast: “The image taken and presented fascinates me, as so many over the decades have tried and failed to capture a high quality image of a true UFO. Why couldn't it be that the best public image is one that we capture by pure chance like this? What does real actually look like when it's something we still do not have a true picture of? This image presents something anomalous and begs the question how many more images like this go unnoticed?”
Dave Partridge - Editor of Shadows Of Your Mind magazine: "People always comment how there are no clear photos of UAP, and for the most part they're right, however in this instance we have an undoubtedly clear image - perhaps the clearest to date. For me, the shape of the object recalls similar descriptions made - and drawn - by pupils who observed the infamous Westall High School flying disks in Melbourne, Australia in 1966. This correlation alone makes it worthy of further investigation."
Vinnie Adams - Host of Disclosure Team Podcast: “After looking into the case, reading about the circumstances surrounding what was seen from that aeroplane that day, and reading the analysis done previously by Dr. Jacques Vallée, it does come across as a very compelling case. The fact that after 50 years it still hasn’t been conclusively proven or debunked is very interesting. Now that we have this high resolution drum scanned version of the image, hopefully it might reignite interest in the case and lead to further analysis and some sort of conclusion.”
Dan Zetterström - Co-host of That UFO Podcast: “We can clearly see a leap in quality between this high resolution scan and previous reproductions - more details than ever are visible! It’ll surely generate more work and debate, but ultimately that’s the road to the truth.”
Luis Elizondo - Former director of AATIP: "Although I was not around during this incident, pilot reports of smooth, shiny, lenticular craft are not new. In fact, even to this day, pilots, both civilian and military, along with their air crew, continue to witness these types of craft and oftentimes displaying performance capabilities well beyond state of the art. Thankfully, some of these newer incidents are finding their way to Congress due to the courage of our fine men and women in uniform. During my time in AATIP, these incidents were surprisingly common."
Jeremy Corbell - Film maker: “As we search for meaning behind the UFO presence, it’s important that we remember we are more effective collectively when perusing analysis. Historic images like this one from Costa Rica still have stories to tell, and new insights are sometimes just around the corner. If we can socially democratize and crowdsource our search for answers - we will arrive closer to the truth than if we simply wait for further confirmation from our governments. I’m elated higher fidelity imagery continues to emerge, especially when it allows us to get a glimpse into our UFO past. Makes one wonder what other UFO evidence is lurking in boxes or files that have remained elusive until now. I’m confident that more and more people will be coming forward with valuable insight and evidence in the near future.”
To download the new high resolution (1.7GB!) drum scan copy of the image click either of the buttons below.
Due to the size of the file, if one option doesn’t work, try the other.
UAPMedia UK would like to thank Leslie Kean, Jeremy Corbell and Luis Elizondo for providing quotes for the article.
Also, many thanks to Esteban Carranza for the information and images.
