Amelia Earhart Investigators Begin Expedition to Study Mysterious Object in the Pacific: ‘Follow the Evidence’

A team searching for Amelia Earhart’s lost plane has begun its expedition to the Pacific, where they plan to study a mysterious object that researchers believe could be her plane.

The article, known as the Taraia objecthas been visible in photos dating back to 1938, the year after Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during Earhart’s attempt to become the first female pilot to fly around the world. Earhart, Noonan and their Electra 10E plane were never found.

Researchers have identified a “visual anomaly” in a lagoon on Nikumaroro, a small island in Kiribati, halfway between Australia and Hawaii. The island is about 400 miles southeast of Howland Island, where Earhart and Noonan planned to go.

Now a team of researchers from Purdue University and the Oregon-based Archaeological Legacy Institute are traveling to Nikumaroro to examine the object. The search team previously said in a press release that there was “very strong” evidence that the object was Earhart’s lost plane.

The team previously announced that they would take photos and videos of the lagoon and Taraia Object. Then, they will use magnetometers and sonar to scan the area before removing the object from the water so researchers can attempt to identify it. The process will be documented by Archealogy Channel, with short vlogs on their streaming platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service.

Richard Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute said he believed Earhart and Noonan landed on Nikumororo and camped there. He believes they survived on the island for some time, citing relics from the 1930s and human skeletal remains that were found there but lost over the decades.

“We owe it to Amelia’s legacy at Purdue to follow the evidence,” Steve Schultz, senior vice president at Purdue University and the expedition’s field assistant, told CBS News. Earhart gave a talk at the school before boarding her final flight. Some of his belongings remain on display in the university archives.

Some experts are skeptical. Ric Gillespie, executive director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, told NBC News in 2025 that he does not believe the Taraia object is related to the Earhart expedition.

“We looked at that location, and there’s nothing there,” he said.

For nearly a century, researchers have been trying to find Earhart’s missing plane, believing it will help them answer the question of what happened to the famous aviator. In 2024, another expedition team captured a sonar image It looked like a plane resting on the sea floor. But it was later determined that the object was a rock formation.

Wendy Rover of The Ninety Nines, an international organization for women pilots that Earhart helped create, said she hopes the mystery of what happened to Earhart can one day be solved. Rover told CBS News that when she was flying and looking for safe places to land, she imagined Earhart doing the same over the Pacific.

“Amelia Earhart was there. She was going through the exact same thing,” Rover said. “So yeah, what happened? What happened? I’d love to know.”