5 Most Mysterious Photos from the Moon

In November of 2021, a Chinese rover spotted a strange cube-shaped object on the horizon, becoming the center of the latest Moon conspiracy and captivating the attention of scientists and conspiracy theorists alike. Launched in 2018, the Yutu-2 is a solar-powered robotic rover, part of the Chinese Change 4 mission on the Moon. The vehicle first landed on the satellite in early 2019 and has been rolling through the 115-mile-wide Von Kármán crater ever since. Almost three years later, Yutu-2 captured an image of a strange and mysterious object from 260 feet away: a cube-shaped structure on the far side of the Moon. According to a Chinese science outreach channel affiliated with the China National Space Administration, the cube was noticed in late November during the mission's 36th lunar day. Dubbed the mystery hut by Chinese media, the name was a placeholder rather than an accurate description. The rover's acquired images immediately sparked debate in the scientific community about the nature of the cube-shaped object, ranging from a strangely shaped rock, an old spacecraft or part, or even an abandoned alien shed. Although Chinese scientists immediately rerouted the rover to take a closer look at the cube, it will take Yutu-2 several months to reach it. A likely explanation for the shape would be a large boulder that has been excavated by an impact event and only looks geometrically symmetric due to the low-resolution image. However, this discovery isn't the first curious incident that the Yutu-2 rover has spotted since its arrival on the Moon. In September of 2019, the rover encountered a strange, goo-like substance that puzzled scientists. The substance turned out to be melted rock fragments cemented together from extreme heat and turned into a unique chemical composition. Then, in early 2021, Yutu-2 spotted unusual sharp spikes sticking out from the lunar surface that were found to be rocks launched by a meteor impact. Whatever this cube-shaped object actually is, no news is expected until at least the early spring of 2022. Even then, the mystery hut could be only the beginning of another 21st-century mystery.


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