Researchers from Purdue University have announced they believe they have located Amelia Earhart’s plane, which disappeared during her 1937 attempt to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe. Using satellite imagery, the team identified a “visual anomaly” on Nikumaroro, a remote island in Kiribati, as potential wreckage of Earhart’s Electra 10E aircraft.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, while en route to Howland Island. The object in question, dubbed the Taraia Object, has appeared in photographs since 1938. A research team plans to inspect the site in November, employing sonar and magnetometers to analyze the area before attempting to retrieve the item.

The expedition aims to test theories suggesting Earhart may have crash-landed on Nikumaroro and survived there before her death. Richard Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, described the mission as an opportunity to uncover “smoking-gun proof” of the hypothesis.

Recent developments include President Trump’s directive to declassify government records related to Earhart’s disappearance, though no official release has been confirmed. The case remains shrouded in speculation, with theories ranging from a crash due to fuel exhaustion to claims of Japanese capture or U.S. government involvement.