Ararat anomaly

[1][2] The anomaly is located on the northwest corner of the Western Plateau of Mount Ararat (approximately 39°42′40″N 44°17′59″E / 39.71111°N 44.29972°E / 39.71111; 44.29972) at about 15,500 ft (4,724 m), some 2.2 km (1.4 mi) west of the 16,854 ft (5,137 m) summit, on the edge of what appears from the photographs to be a steep downward slope.

It was first filmed during a U.S. Air Force aerial reconnaissance mission in 1949 - the Ararat massif sits on the former Turkish / Soviet border, and was thus an area of military interest - and was accordingly given a classification of "secret" as were subsequent photographs taken in 1956, 1973, 1976, 1990, and 1992, by aircraft and satellites.

Six frames from the 1949 footage were released under the Freedom of Information Act to Porcher Taylor, a professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, and a scholar at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies specializing in satellite intelligence and diplomacy, in 1995.

A joint research project was later established between Insight Magazine and Space Imaging (now GeoEye), using the IKONOS satellite.

A controversial "bird's eye view" satellite image, taken by IKONOS later in 2003 for the same research project, was released to the public in 2006.