IFL Science reported on February 5 that the Ocean X ocean exploration team - a group specializing in hunting for treasures and foreign objects on the seabed - discovered a strange structure at a depth of about 91m at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
Hazy sonar images showed the object, which resembled the iconic Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, was at the end of a 300-meter-long flat "runway", raising suspicions of an unusual landing.
Even more bizarre, the expedition team claimed that all electronic devices - from GPS to satellite phones - stopped working when they approached the object. When they moved about 200m away, everything returned to normal.
Before this discovery, a series of hypotheses appeared. The round shape, mysterious runway and interference phenomenon led many to believe that this was a flying object (UFO) that had an accident while landing in the Baltic Sea.
Some other opinions suggest that this could be the remains of a secret base from the Soviet or Nazi era.
According to the third hypothesis, it is possible that this object is a piece of meteorite or an unprecedented volcanic structure.
"I absolutely believe we have found something very, very unique," Ocean X co-founder Dennis Åsberg once said.
Despite the intense interest, scientists have come up with a less dramatic but more plausible explanation. Samples from the area show that it is simply a collection of granite, gneiss and sandstone – typical of the Baltic glacial region.
The only oddity is a piece of basalt (cooled lava), but according to geologist Volker Brüchert from Stockholm University, this can be explained by the melting of ice and the transport of sediment tens of thousands of years ago.
"This could be a remnant of glacial and post-glacial processes," Brüchert told Live Science.
While the mysterious object in the Baltic Sea may not be proof of aliens, the event has opened up new opportunities for the Ocean X team. They are working with the Guna Yala indigenous community in Panama to search for historic shipwrecks and track down lost treasures such as cognac, champagne, and even the three legendary Tsarist Faberge eggs that were lost after the 1917 Russian Revolution.
While the mystery of the Baltic Sea may have been solved from a scientific perspective, it remains a fascinating tale of what lies beneath the ocean. Perhaps one day, the ocean will reveal a secret that will truly change the course of human history.
