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She's been dead for decades now, but Amelia Earhart in still on our mind. In fact, it was just a few days ago that her name once again made headlines.

This time, it was because folks with The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR, for short) announced to the world that they had come one step closer to finding and recovering the wreckage of her plane.

It all sounds very exciting and fascinating, but one cannot help but wonder: is TIGHAR messing with us, or do these researchers actually have reasons to brag about having found Amelia Earhart's aircraft?

First off, here's what we know about this world-famous aviator

Amelia Earhart, whose full name was Amelia Mary Earhart, was an aviation pioneer. She was born in 1897, and in 1928 she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Fast forward a few years and in 1937 she decided to try her hand and nerves at flying a plane around the world. Unfortunately, she and her Lockheed Model 10 Electra disappeared while journeying over the Pacific.

More precisely, the aviator and her plane went missing somewhere in the central Pacific Ocean, not far from Howland Island, an uninhabited coral island located north of the equator.

To this day, it is unclear what exactly happened on the day Amelia Earhart disappeared. Besides, researchers are pretty much clueless about where the remains of her plane might be hiding.

Anomaly at the bottom of the ocean fascinates researchers

Last year, TIGHAR specialists announced that, while studying the ocean floor in the region where Amelia Earhart went missing with the help of sonar technology, they found a so-called anomaly.

Thus, they discovered an odd silhouette resting on the ocean floor. The unidentified object is said to be the right shape and size to be the wreckage of the aviator's plane. Thus, it's tube-like and measures 22 feet (nearly 7 meters) in length.

This unidentified object sits in the waters off the coast of an uninhabited atoll dubbed Nikumaroro, which in turn is located at a distance of just 350 miles (roughly 563 kilometers) from Howland Island.

Having found this object, folks with TIGHAR were quick to argue that, all things considered, it is possible that Amelia Earhart did not simply plunge in the Pacific, but instead crash landed on this atoll.

They even went as far as to argue that she probably survived here for several days, and that it took quite a while for waves and tides to push her plane into the water and bury them deep in the ocean floor.

Perhaps it would be best not to get our hopes up

Admittedly, it would be nothing short of awesome if TIGHAR researchers were in fact to find the remains of Amelia Earhart's plane and solve the mystery surrounding her death once and for all.

Then again, perhaps it would be a good idea not to get our hopes up. Not to play the Grinch or anything of the sorts, but the fact of the matter is that, for the time being at least, we're dealing with a heck lot of maybes and ifs.

First off, the specialists investigating the circumstances of Amelia Earhart's death are yet to be sure that the aluminum patch found on the Nikumaroro atoll does, in fact, originate from the aviator's long-lost aircraft.

Besides, even if this is the case, we need to keep in mind that Amelia Earhart and her plane went missing decades ago, in 1937. Simply put, this piece of aluminum could've been dragged by waves over hundreds of kilometers before finally being laid to rest on the atoll where it was found.

Lastly, it's important to note that an anomaly at the bottom of the ocean does not a plane wreckage make. Not until somebody gets to have a closer look at it and confirms that this is indeed the case.

In a nutshell, here's what I'm trying to say: sure, TIGHAR has found some evidence that the remains of Amelia's plane are resting in the waters off the coast of the Nikumaroro atoll in the Pacific Ocean, but it is still a long way from confirming this find.

One can only hope that, when they get around to exploring the region in further detail in 2015, the researchers behind with investigation will come up with some more substantial evidence to support their claims.

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