Mysterious 'flying saucer' in the Sahara Desert is discovered on Google Maps – as baffled viewers suggest it could be a crashed UFO
From a mysterious 'doorway' in the Antarctic to hidden symbols in the Gobi Desert, Google Maps has revealed some weird and wonderful secrets over the years.
But this latest discovery might be one of the strangest yet.
Keen-eyed internet sleuths have spotted what seems to be a 'flying saucer' buried in the Sahara Desert.
According to some baffled viewers, the unusual structure could be a crashed UFO that has been buried for thousands of years.
The mysterious object is located near the tiny town of Bordj Omar Driss, Algeria, deep within the Sahara Desert.
UFO hunter Scott Waring, who made the strange discovery, told MailOnline: 'It's likely the UFO has been there for tens of thousands of years, predating recorded human history.
'I also want to note, that the CIA and other organizations will have people try to label any discoveries of UFOs on Google Earth Map as something else in order to manipulate and deceive the public from knowing the truth.'
Unfortunately for these alien hunters, experts say there is a much simpler explanation.
The odd structure was spotted on Google Maps at the coordinates 28°8'45.15'N 6°48'20.85'E.
In a video sharing his findings, Mr Waring claims that the 'UFO' is buried 34.4 feet (10.5m) according to Google Earth Pro's elevation measuring tools.
Mr Waring told MailOnline that, at the Sahara's sediment accumulation rate of 0.5 mm per year, the 'UFO' must have landed 21,000 years ago to be buried so deeply.
He also points to the fact that the structure isn't present in early satellite images of the site, suggesting that it must have been 'excavated' recently.
On social media, Mr Waring's surprising comments have found widespread support, as commenters rushed to share their excitement.
One enthusiastic commenter wrote: 'I would love to know the whole story but this definitely looks like a crash site or something considering it popped up on the map out of nowhere.'
'I wonder whether some bodies have been found... This is so weird,' added another.
While one conspiratorially minded commenter wrote: 'Take screen shots everyone, cause you know Google is going to make this disappear.'
Adding fuel to the flames of speculation, Mr Waring adds: 'The UFO seems to have been torn open around the lower center dome. Possibly to enter the craft in order to loot it before government officials get hold of it.'
However, the real explanation for this strange site is much more mundane.
Nick Pope, former UFO investigator for the Ministry of Defence, told MailOnline: 'With the recent expansion in the capabilities of AI, it's increasingly difficult to ensure that images haven't been faked, or doctored.
'But even assuming the picture is genuine and not altered in any way, it's impossible to tell much from the image alone.
'There's no context, and applying the principle of Occam's Razor - that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one - this is more likely to be a circular building or structure of some sort than a crashed alien spacecraft.'
And, thanks to the work of some online investigators, we actually know exactly what kind of building this is.
The 'mysterious' structure is actually just the foundation for an onshore wind turbine.
Before the tower is added, these huge reinforced concrete structures are dug deep into the ground which would explain why the structure appears to be below the surface.
Seen side by side, aerial photographs of a confirmed wind turbine foundation (left) and the supposed UFO (right) show how similar the two are
With a classic 'flying saucer' shape of a round body and central dome, it is easy to see how someone might mistake these structures for a UFO.
But looking at aerial photographs of known wind turbines you can see that this Saharan structure is almost certainly the base of another wind turbine.
In other satellite images of the location, this similarity is even clearer.
Likewise, as UFO analyst and sceptic Mick West points out, there is another foundation just to the southwest where the tower of the wind turbine has already started construction.
Algeria, where these were found, is currently undergoing a major investment in wind power, with the government aiming to produce 27 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2035.
The country also has some of the world's greatest potential for wind power with consistent wind speeds of up to eight metres per second in many regions.
This makes it a lot more likely that there would be a wind turbine under construction than a secret, ancient UFO hidden beneath the desert.
Unfortunately, UFO investigators say wild claims like these actually interfere with their search for extraterrestrial life.
UFO researcher Philip Mantle, told MailOnline: 'The vast majority of UFO sighting reports including photos and video end up having a rational explanation.
'Then there is an amount that just doesn't have enough info to reach a conclusion.
'This leaves only a very small minority that may be left for serious examination.
'Photos like this are not to be taken seriously and rank alongside stories that Elvis is still alive and he lives with Lord Lucan.'
WHAT DID BUZZ ALDRIN SAY ABOUT HIS 'UFO ENCOUNTER'?
While UFO enthusiasts have long clung to Buzz Aldrin's story of a strange light appearing alongside his spacecraft in 1969, the Apollo 11 astronaut does not think what he saw was an alien.
During a 2014 Q&A on Reddit, he explained:
'On Apollo 11 in route to the Moon, I observed a light out the window that appeared to be moving alongside us. There were many explanations of what that could be, other than another spacecraft from another country or another world - it was either the rocket we had separated from, or the 4 panels that moved away when we extracted the lander from the rocket and we were nose to nose with the two spacecraft.
'So in the close vicinity, moving away, were 4 panels. And i feel absolutely convinced that we were looking at the sun reflected off of one of these panels. Which one? I don't know. So technically, the definition could be "unidentified."
'We well understood exactly what that was. And when we returned, we debriefed and explained exactly what we had observed.
'And I felt that this had been distributed to the outside world, the outside audience, and apparently it wasn't, and so many years later, I had the time in an interview to disclose these observations, on another country's television network. And the UFO people in the United States were very very angry with me, that i had not given them the information. It was not an alien. Extraordinary observations require extraordinary evidence.
'That's what Carl Sagan said. There may be aliens in our Milky Way galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies. The probability is almost CERTAIN that there is life somewhere in space.
'It was not that remarkable, that special, that unusual, that life here on earth evolved gradually, slowly, to where we are today.
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