So was the 'Baltic Sea UFO' an alien saucer or an underwater Nazi base?
No – it ‘is just rocks’, claim debunkers
- Object ‘is raised about 10 to 13ft above seabed and curved at the sides like a mushroom’
- Theories on origins range from downed UFO, to forgotten World War II base, or meteorite
- But experts say rock samples point to natural rock formation
Since its discovery at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in May 2011, the anomaly has fascinated observers.
The apparently man-made object sits at the bottom of the ocean, looking for all intents and purposes like a drowned Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars movies.
Theories have ranged over its purpose since the Ocean X Team discovered the object on sonar scans.
To some observers, it is a UFO – The ‘Roswell of the Ocean’, while others speculate that it is a Nazi anti-submarine defence, or a plug to the underworld.
But according to one expert, the ‘strange’ and ‘mysterious’ object, as described by the team who found it, is nothing more than glacial rocks that have been dragged across the ocean floor.
Volker Brüchert, an associate professor of geology at Stockholm University, was handed stone samples of the object for analysis.
He said he believed he was seeing nothing more than normal rocks, and told Live Science: ‘It’s good to hear critical voices about this ‘Baltic Sea mystery.
‘What has been generously ignored by the Ocean-X team is that most of the samples they have brought up from the sea bottom are granites and gneisses and sandstones.’
He told Live Science that these are ‘exactly what one would expect to see in a glacial basin, which is what the Baltic Sea is – a region carved out by glacial ice long ago’.
The divers from Ocean X also gave Brüchert a single loose piece of basaltic rock, a type of rock that forms from hardened lava, which he told the website was ‘out of place on the seafloor, but not unusual’.
China's strange skies, smartdust, HAARP or…something else?
China’s strange skies as sun halos and UFO-shaped clouds float across the horizon at the weekend
If you were in China last week, you could have been forgiven if you believed the end of days had arrived.
For one moment UFO-shaped clouds were floating across the blue skies – and then days later a halo appeared around the Sun, appearing to give it a halo for a few hours.
Both are simple weather phenomena – but both are also strange and unexpected sights that baffled many onlookers.
The unusual cloud above appeared over Jilin Province, China.
It is known as a lenticular clouds, and their spectacular shapes are popular with UFO believers, who spot the resemblance to flying saucers.
The clouds generally form over mountains – although in rare instances they can be caused by shear winds, and have been spotted over the UK on occasion.
The clouds generally form when stable air flows over the top of a mountain.
The moisture droplets are pushed up a steep slope, condensing into cloud on their way, and forming in a spiral formation over the top.
For people living near mountains, these sightings are a common occurrence.
But when visitors see one – or the cloud forms away from mountains – they are a startling shape.
Straight lines rarely form in nature, so to see such a tightly packed shape is a curious event.
The hi-tech 'X-Ray helmet' that can let fighter pilots see through their plane
For anyone with a fear of flying, it could be their worst nightmare
Yet a new ‘Top Gun’ helmet for fighter pilots can allow them to see through their aircraft – even if they are looking down.
The BAE Systems Striker system, made by the UK firm, interacts with cameras dotted all over the plane.
Sensors in the helmet are able to tell exactly where the pilot is looking.
When matched up with cameras around the plane, the system is able to superimpose a picture from the outside of the plane onto the pilots display – allowing them to see through the plane.
‘If a pilot wears a Striker helmet – which is essentially a helmet with an integrated display – when he sees something on the ground he can just turn his head, put a symbol across on to the point of interest, press a button, and the system will calculate the object’s co-ordinates,’ Alan Jowett of BAE Systems told the BBC.
The technology can even pass the information to a weapon such as an unmanned drone, said Peter Robbie, vice-president of business development at European aerospace and defence firm EADS, which also makes advanced helmet system.
‘The UAV would be an additional weapons carrier, and the pilot could pass targeting information to it,
‘So if he sees a target, by pressing a button it would become the unmanned vehicle’s target.
‘The pilot could authorise it to drop a missile and then monitor through his helmet where it is going to go.’
The Striker helmet can also be fitted with dual night vision goggles, and BAE says it is even developing a 3D audio system to allow pilots to hear information from all around them.
[Top]