Remember that strange “cube” on the moon? Yutu-2 Finally Take Closer Pictures

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The mysterious Chinese “moon cube” is no longer a mystery. The big reveal: It is a rock that is not even shaped like a cube.

The Yutu-2 rover discovered the object – which appeared to be a looming gray cube on the lunar horizon – in early December. Described by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) as a ‘mysterious hut’, he humorously speculated that the cube might be an alien home or a spacecraft.

News reports called it the “Moon Cube.”

CNSA estimated that the object was about 80 meters (262 feet) away, according to the agency’s “Our Space” blog, which was set up to push the rover toward it. The blog said it would take two or three months to get to the cube.

After several weeks of preparation and driving, the rover is close enough to see that the Mystery Shack is just a rock. Its sharp, geometric appearance on the horizon was a simple illusion of perspective, light and shadow.

In an update published Friday, Our Space posted the latest image of the rover for its target below.

Yutu-2 image of the closest rock. (CNSA / CLEP / Our Space)

A rover observer on the blog noticed that the boulder is in the shape of a rabbit, and in front of it are smaller boulders that look like a carrot. The rover’s name, Yutu, means “Jade Rabbit” – now the rock’s name as well.

Yutu-2 reached the moon in January 2019, when the Chang’e-4 lander landed on the lunar surface and rolled incline until the rover landed. It was the first mission to land on the far side of the moon.

In the three years that followed, Yutu-2 drove more than 1,000 meters (3,200 feet), used ground-penetrating radar to reveal a surprisingly deep layer of lunar soil, and identified rocks from the lunar mantle, below the crust, that were pushed to the surface when it collided. An asteroid with the moon billions of years ago.

A closer look at the rock. (CNSA / CLEP / Our Space)

The rover survived long after its initial three-month mission, meaning Yutu-2 had plenty of free time to hunt wild cubes.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

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