Remember that ‘cube-shaped’ object China’s lunar lander spotted on the moon? Now we know what it is.
by Linda Hasco
The Oregonian
January 10, 2022
In November 2021 a mysterious object was spotted on the horizon by China’s Yutu 2 rover as it worked its way across Von Kármán crater on the far side of the moon, drawing much speculation. Many described it as looking like a “house” and called it the “mystery hut,” various news outlets reported.
According to a report by MSN, the mystery has finally been solved. The object turns out to be — a rock — an “amusing conclusion” to an enigma that garnered so much flutter in December.
The report said that the cube-shaped “hut” is actually “a small lumpy rock sitting on a crater rim.” However, in the rover’s first image, it did look much bigger and more mysterious. A closer look with more perspective allowed the rover to reveal “the object’s true nature.”
The New York Times reported that what seemed to be a perfect geometric shape was just “a trick of angle, light, and shadow.”
But in an interesting twist, The Times noted that one of the rover’s remote drivers on Earth pointed out that the rock looked a bit like a rabbit and one of the stones in front of it looked somewhat like a carrot — which is fitting since the rover’s name means “Jade Rabbit.”
According to The Times, in the history of space exploration, visual illusions are common, “whether seen by astronomers peering through telescopes on Earth or robotic explorers on other worlds capturing images with cameras.”
It's not a "mystery hut." But what is it?
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