Mysterious 'Surfboard UFO' Captured Whizzing Past the Moon; NASA Explains Sighting

Netizens captured what they believed was a UFO that resembled a surfboard. However, NASA was quick to clarify what the sighting was.

Surfboard-Shaped UFO Spotted

An unidentified flying object (UFO) was captured on two separate occasions last month. It was spotted whizzing past the Moon.

Photographs taken by NASA's lunar spacecraft show an object that resembles a surfboard speeding past the Moon.

There was no alien megastructure or UFO during the close encounter. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) saw South Korea's lunar orbiter Danuri flying by while the two spacecraft circled the Moon,, the agency said in a statement.

As the two spacecraft were "traveling in nearly parallel orbits," the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland's LRO operations crew seized the chance to take pictures of the event, which transpired on March 5 and 6.

Since LRO's camera only has an exposure duration of 0.338 milliseconds, it is challenging to record the incident. Nevertheless, in December 2022, it succeeded in capturing images of Danuri, the first Korean spacecraft to reach lunar orbit.

Unfortunately, the resulting photograph makes Danuri appear to be "smeared to 10 times its size." This stretching effect makes it resemble a flat surfboard. This is due to the two spacecraft traveling at around 7,200 mph (11,500 km/h) at different speeds.

Danuri is a box-shaped spaceship with two solar panels affixed to each side, unlike a surfboard. Some photos were posted on X (previously Twitter) by Paul Byrne, an associate professor of planetary science at Washington University in St. Louis.

"To be clear, the Danuri orbiter is not a weirdly thin load of pixels - it's a fairly normal-looking orbiter," Byrne posted. "But the terrific speeds involved mean that it's smeared on the LRO's camera detector."

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Moon Flipped Inside Out

Meanwhile, a new study discovered that the Moon flipped over 4.2 billion years ago. Research co-author and LPL associate professor Jeff Andrews-Hanna confirmed that the Moon had "turned itself inside out."

The University of Arizona's research indicates that the Moon initially formed swiftly and was entirely submerged in a scalding ocean of magma. The Moon's outer layers, or crust and mantle, formed as this ocean cooled and solidified. The bottom layers of the newborn Moon would have remained tumultuous, though.

The last of this enormous lunar water may have formed into thick minerals like ilmenite, which is rich in iron and titanium, according to simulations of the Moon's formation.

Andrews-Hanna said that when they saw a model, it was like a lightbulb went on. The same pattern may be seen in the slight variations in the Moon's gravity field, suggesting the presence of a network of dense material beneath the crust.

At first, there was a great deal of controversy over the precise sequence of events that occurred during this crucial period in the history of the Moon, largely due to the lack of tangible evidence. However, after a recent study, they confirmed that the Moon indeed flipped, resulting in its current state.

"The moon is fundamentally lopsided in every respect," Andrews-Hanna said. "For the first time, we have physical evidence showing us what was happening in the moon's interior during this critical stage of its evolution, and that's exciting."

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