Section A · Scientific researchers
Beatriz Villarroel
PhD in astrophysics + researcher at Nordita / Stockholm University + Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias + lead of the VASCO project
Biography
An astrophysicist who leads VASCO (Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations), a project comparing photographic sky plates across a century to find objects that appeared or disappeared. Her most provocative line analyzes transients on plates predating 1957 —before any human satellite existed— proposing that some points of light could be reflections from objects in orbit, a testable hypothesis. She represents the rigorous observational approach: looking for signals in archival data, not in testimony.
Documents
POSS-I Transients ↔ nuclear tests + UAP (Bruehl & Villarroel)
Peer-reviewed paper by R. Bruehl and Beatriz Villarroel published in Scientific Reports (Nature group) in October 2025. Day by day between 19 November 1949 and 28 April 1957 (before Sputnik), it cross-matches transients found on the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates with atmospheric nuclear tests and with UAP reports of the period. It finds two associations: transients are 45% more likely within one day of a nuclear test (p=0.008) and increase by 8.5% for each additional UAP report on the same day (p=0.015). It documents a correlation, not a cause: the effect is modest, and plate contamination or search bias remain competing explanations.
Why they're here · 3 pieces
- 2019
Proyecto VASCO
Systematic search for vanishing sources in archival sky surveys
- 2021
Nine simultaneously occurring transients on April 12th 1950 (Scientific Reports)
Nine point sources appear within half an hour on a 1950 Palomar plate and are absent on prior, later and modern CCD surveys. Peer-reviewed paper in Nature Scientific Reports — first documented evidence of anomalous pre-Sputnik transients.
- 2025
POSS-I transients ↔ nuclear testing + UAP reports (Scientific Reports)
With Bruehl: dataset of 2,718 days (1949–1957) shows pre-Sputnik transients are 45% more likely within ±1 day of a nuclear test (p=0.008) and that each additional same-day UAP report associates with 8.5% more transients (p=0.015). It is the strongest peer-reviewed statistical correlation between UAP phenomenon, nuclear activity and astronomical records.
Sources
- Villarroel, B. et al. — 'Exploring nine simultaneously occurring transients on April 12th 1950' (Scientific Reports 11, 12794, 2021) — Peer-reviewed paper in Nature Scientific Reports. DOI 10.1038/s41598-021-92162-7.
- Bruehl, R. & Villarroel, B. — 'Transients in the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-I) may be associated with nuclear testing and reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena' (Scientific Reports, 2025) — Pre-Sputnik statistical correlation with nuclear tests (p=0.008) and UAP reports (p=0.015).
- VASCO project — Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations — Sitio del proyecto liderado por Villarroel.
Contributes a theoretical framework, with no specific case in the archive.
Biography summarized from public sources, classified by section (A-F).