Astronomer
Active research astronomer at major European institution publishing in conventional peer-reviewed venues. The interpretation of VASCO results is contested but the methodology is mainstream.
VASCO project
Founded and leads the Vanishing & Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations program, using historical photographic plates to detect transients including pre-1957 candidate objects.
Pre-Sputnik transient search
Published peer-reviewed papers identifying candidate point sources that appear and vanish on photographic plates predating the first artificial satellite, with implications for archival SETI.
The Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations Project I-IV
2020 • Astronomical JournalBegins systematic search of historical sky surveys for transient sources.
Identifies candidate transients in pre-Sputnik plates.
“If you find something on a plate from 1950 that is not there today, it is either an extremely rare astrophysical event or it is something that should not have been there.”
VASCO project communication•2021