The mysterious looking entity was photographed by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, as it travelled across the surface of the moon at around 7,200 miles per hour
NASA has released a snap of a surfboard like object orbiting the moon as Marvel fans joke it could belong to the Silver Surfer.
The mysterious entity was photographed by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) near the surface last month. Images released by the space agency on Friday show a thin horizontal line.
At a glance the odd shape appears to resemble the board of the Marvel’s Silver Surfer character doing a quick lap. One fan joked on X: “If NASA sighted a surfboard shaped object near the moon it can mean only 1 thing. That NASA has invested in MARVEL comics after the announcement of a Silver Surfer movie soon.”
However, in what could prove to be a massive disappointment to comic book fans, the UFO looking object’s origins are not quite as out of this world as they appear.
It is in fact a man-made bit of kit, that just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
According to NASA, the LRO took multiple images of the Danuri lunar orbiter, which was launched by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.
These two spacecrafts quickly crossed paths between March 5 and 6, moving in parallel but opposite directions.
Danuri’s image, currently circling the moon since December 2022, appears warped due to the super high speeds at which it moves in relation to the LRO.
With the LROs camera’s short exposure time, the resulting photo of the Korean spacecraft travelling at around 7,200mph sees it stretched to 10 times its size in the opposite direction of travel.
The Danuri is South Korea’s debut in lunar exploration, while the LRO has been faithfully orbiting the moon for 15 years.
By aiming their camera at just the right moment and location, the LRO operations team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland successfully caught a glimpse of Danuri.
The space agency commended their impeccable timing for this accomplishment.