Palomar Observatory, California: Nine transient dots in a line on a Sky Survey plate
A Palomar Sky Survey photographic plate exposed on 12 April 1950 shows nine transient dots of light in a line that are absent from plates of the same field taken 30 minutes earlier, six days later and 30 years later; they are identified in 2021 by Beatriz Villarroel.
Background
Nine transient dots of light in a line appear on a photographic plate of the Palomar Sky Survey exposed on 12 April 1950. They are not present on plates of the identical part of the sky taken 30 minutes earlier, six days later or 30 years later. The dots are discovered in 2021 by Beatriz Villarroel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics, who publishes the finding with co-authors in Scientific Reports. She rules out astrophysical explanations, passing airplanes, asteroids and other known light sources as well as contamination caused by nuclear fallout. Later contributions cited in the entry, among them articles by Avi Loeb (2026) and a microscopy assessment by Jun Yang and Villarroel (2026), continue the discussion of the plates. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.