An odd shape in the South Pacific that has sparked the latest push to solve one of the greatest mysteries of all time came to light in a backyard in California. US Navy veteran Mike Ashmore was at home in 2020, scrolling through satellite images of a tiny island called Nikumaroro, when he spotted the unexpected object in a lagoon.

Halfway between Australia and Hawaii, Nikumaroro plays a key role in one of two rival hypotheses that seek to explain what happened to the famed aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, who went missing in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world. Their disappearance has captivated researchers for decades and long fascinated Ashmore, a hobbyist who got hooked by a theory that the legendary pilot ended up on the island’s shores.

“It was Apple Maps on my iPhone,” Ashmore recalled about the digital exploration that led to his find. “I was sitting on a swing in the morning having coffee with my dog. The day before, I went around the exterior of the island, and that morning I started going around the lagoon and something caught my eye. Then I looked closer, and I snapped a screenshot of it.”

Ashmore thought what he saw resembled an aircraft wing and shared the picture with a popular Amelia Earhart online forum hosted by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, or TIGHAR, a collective devoted to aviation history and archaeology. The elongated shape in the satellite imagery stirred excited discussion among members, although some said it was likely a log from a palm tree.

The Taraia Object, first spotted in 2020, is visible in recent satellite imagery. Archaeological Legacy Institute 2025

The blurry object also caught the attention of archaeologist Rick Pettigrew, a longtime Earhart aficionado and executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute in Eugene, Oregon, who decided to investigate further. He said he found that the anomaly, which has since been named the Taraia Object, is visible in other aerial photos taken of the lagoon, including some captured as far back as 1938.

“With the evidence that we have now, it would be a crime for nobody to go there and look,” Pettigrew said.

Now an expedition is launching to do just that.