In early July 2026, the astronomical community's attention was once again drawn to the work of astrophysicist Beatriz Villarroel and her VASCO project. A recent feature in the Liberation Times detailed the progression of this research, which began several years ago with a search for appearing and disappearing objects on archival sky plates.
The VASCO project (Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations) was originally launched with an ambitious goal: to compare historic sky surveys with modern data in search of rare astrophysical events, such as candidates for "vanishing" stars or technosignatures from extraterrestrial civilizations. The research team analyzed hundreds of millions of objects spanning a period of roughly 70 years. Instead of the anticipated exotic astrophysical phenomena, the researchers discovered thousands of short-lived transients—point-like flashes that appeared on the plates and vanished within minutes or even seconds.
Of particular interest are the events recorded in the 1940s and 1950s, well before the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in October 1957. These plates documented cases where multiple bright points appeared simultaneously during a single exposure. One striking example involves nine distinct flashes appearing on a single plate over a period of approximately 50 minutes. Such occurrences are difficult to explain as conventional astronomical phenomena, as meteors, asteroids, and variable stars do not produce this kind of pattern.
For many years, critics pointed to potential defects in the photographic emulsion, such as dust, chemical spots, or development artifacts. However, recent independent research has significantly complicated this explanation. In a June 2026 preprint, retired NASA engineer Ivo Busko analyzed pairs of plates from the Hamburg Observatory archives. He focused on a specific optical aberration known as coma, which is characteristic of certain telescope designs. Light from real celestial objects passing through the optics leaves a distinct "signature" with wings and a tail that film defects cannot replicate. Busko identified eleven such transients, confirming that they represent real images of light originating from space.
Statistical patterns add another layer of intrigue to the findings. Flashes were more frequently recorded during periods of atmospheric nuclear testing, with the probability increasing by approximately 45% to 80% depending on the specific analysis. Furthermore, there is a noticeable deficit of these events in the Earth's shadow at geostationary altitudes—regions where sunlight would be unable to reflect off hypothetical objects. This effect reached a significance of 22 sigma in one of the models. Independent replications, including work by Brian Dougherty and Kevin Cann, have confirmed these correlations.
In a conversation with cosmologist Brian Keating, Beatriz Villarroel emphasized that if these objects are real, "they are still there." Her team continues its work, stressing the necessity of further verification and new observations.
The scientific community remains cautious regarding these findings. No one is explicitly claiming that these are extraterrestrial probes, but the data undoubtedly requires rigorous investigation. New preprints address some of the skeptical objections, moving the discussion to the next level—from doubting the reality of the signals to searching for their true nature. Future observations using modern instrumentation may provide answers as to whether these flashes were rare natural events or something more unusual in near-Earth space during the mid-20th century.
As astronomers continue to sift through the archives, the story serves as a reminder that the sky still holds many surprises, and old photographic plates may be telling stories we are only just beginning to understand.
