Ararat anomaly

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The Ararat anomaly is an object appearing on photographs of the snowfields near the summit of Mount Ararat, Turkey, and advanced by some believers in Biblical literalism as the remains of Noah's Ark.

Overview

The anomaly is located on the northwest corner of the Western Plateau of Mount Ararat (approximately ) at about , some west of the 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 Dr. 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. IKONOS, on its maiden voyage, captured the anomaly on August 5 and September 13, 2000. The Mount Ararat area also has been imaged by France's SPOT satellite in September 1989, Landsat in the 1970s and NASA's Space shuttle in 1994, as well as military satellite images captured by the CIA's KH-9 (Keyhole 9) in 1973 and KH-11 (Keyhole 11) in 1976 and 1990–1992.

The Defense Intelligence Agency, while not ruling out a man-made structure, believes the anomaly shows "linear facades in the glacial ice underlying more recently accumulated ice and snow".

Ararat anomaly and Durupınar site

The Ararat anomaly is sometimes confused with the Durupınar site, a feature 18 miles from the mountain that is claimed to be Noah's Ark by the adventurer Ron Wyatt and David Fasold.

References

See also

• Durupınar
• Mount Ararat
• Noah's Ark
• Pareidolia
• Searches for Noah's Ark

External links

• 666soon.com - Search for Noah's Ark, has many Ararat anomaly's photos (2000 ~ 2003) and information
• Satellite closes in on Noah's Ark mystery, CNN

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Last updated on Monday July 21, 2008 at 00:02:02 PDT (GMT -0700)
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