Social media, speculation and conspiracy theories thrive on each other. However, a strange-looking object in the shape of a cube spotted on the Moon's surface by Yutu-2 moon rover could be much serious than that.

The object, after it was seen in photos released by China's space agency last week, has come under the scanner from all quarters. The rover spotted the object as it made its way across the Von Karman crater on the far side of the Moon, reported Space.com. Some speculated the cube-shaped object to be a mystery hut.

Yutu-2 of Chang'e 4 mission continues exploration
The Yutu-2 rover moves away from Chang'e 4 lander on the far side of the Moon before both rover and lander shut down for the ninth lunar night on Friday. The Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) expects the rover that reached the lunar surface on January 3 to remain active for almost one Earth year. The Xinhua report about Chang'e 4 was particularly noted on the day Indian space scientists suffered a setback as the Vikram lander that reached the lunar orbit aboard Chandrayaan 2 failed stopped communicating with the ground stations minutes before touchdown.Xinhua/twitter

The Yutu-2 is a robotic lunar rover part of the Chinese Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon. Launched in the December of 2018, it has been exploring the far side of the Moon since 2019.

Andrew Jones, a journalist tracking China's space programme, shared the updates and pictures in a series of tweets on Friday. "Ah. We have an update from Yutu-2 on the lunar far side, including an image of a cubic shape on the northern horizon, 80m away from the rover in Von Karman crater. Referred to as "mystery house." The next 2-3 lunar days will be spent getting closer to check it out." He further said the object was neither an obelisk nor an alien, "but definitely something to check out and hard to discern from the image."

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The object, in the meanwhile, has been unanimously termed as the "mystery house" and scientists are likely to drive the rover closer to it in order to get a better idea.

The theories floating around

The most plausible, so far, of all the theories and explanations floating around on social media happens to be the one that likens the object to a boulder. Some scientists have argued that the object is a boulder that was excavated upon impact.

This is not the first time that an accidental discovery by Yutu-2 has become the object of discussion. In 2019, the robotic rover discovered a "green tinted gel-like substance" on the Moon which was later found to be a rock-like substance that forms when minerals and rocks fuse.

Some escapism, astronomy and entertainment

Many gave into wishful thinking after looking at the pictures. Some thought what if it were an artefact from an ancient civilisation and how that fact could be a game-changer. Others thought it would be a good starting point for a cool sci-fi movie. "Oh what a cool thing to wake up to," exclaimed a user.

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