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.

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.

Associated cases (1)

136

POSS-I Transients ↔ nuclear tests + UAP (Bruehl & Villarroel)· 2025

Peer-reviewed paper in Nature Scientific Reports (Oct 2025) by Bruehl and Villarroel. Dataset of 2,718 days (Nov 19, 1949 to Apr 28, 1957, fully pre-Sputnik) with transients identified on Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates. Two statistically significant associations: transients are 45% more likely within ±1 day of a nuclear test (p=0.008) and for each additional same-day UAP report there are 8.5% more transients identified (p=0.015). It is the strongest peer-reviewed correlation in the corpus between nuclear activity, UAP records of the era and independent astronomical observations.

2025S60%

Synthesized bio from the UAP disclosure ecosystem — categorized by epistemological section (A-E).