Just as NASA was preparing to launch the Lunar Prospector, which will conduct a detailed scan of the entire surface of the moon, a German geologist and science writer named Dr. Johannes Fiebag posted to the internet an announcement concerning his discovery of an artificial-looking object within the Lobachevsky crater on the moon's dark side.
Fiebag is the author of several books including "Mars -- Planet Des Lebens" (Econ-Publisher, Düsseldorf 1996) and "Mission Pathfinder" (Econ Publisher, Düsseldorf 1997).
His discovery came while analyzing NASA photographs taken during the Apollo 16 lunar mission. The Lobachevsky crater image (incorrectly identified by NASA as Guyot) can be viewed at: http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/images/pao/AS16/10075825.jpg
CNI News examined the photo posted at the NASA site and recommends that all interested readers do the same. The object under discussion is highly visible and undeniably strange. An enhancement of the NASA photo can also be viewed at http://www.sightings.com
Dr. Fiebag's English-language text [slightly edited] reads as follows.
Unusual Objects inside Lobachevsky Crater (Moon): A Preliminary Evaluation
by Dr. Johannes Fiebag
Riemenschneiderstr. 36
D-97616 Bad Neustadt
email: jo.fiebag@t-online.de
Abstract. There are two unusual objects of unknown origin in the Lobachevsky crater on the lunar farside: a giant triangular shape and a smaller cylindrical one. Until now, no hypothesis preferring a natural origin can explain their existence. It cannot be excluded that we really have detected some ETAs (extraterrestrial artifacts) on the Moon.
There have been speculations about past or even current extraterrestrial activity on the Moon for many years. The so-called "moon blinks" or "lunar transient phenomena" mostly will originate in natural volcanic processes or meteorite impacts. However, there seems to be a connection between the frequency of these "blinks" and earthly space missions, namely the Apollo missions of 1968-1972 [1].
Beyond that, various authors have maintained that they recognize monuments or other indications of extraterrestrial activity on images of the lunar probes or the manned missions to the Moon. Most of these structures seem to be truly natural, others are only products of wishful thinking. However, among them are also some examples [2,3] which should be considered more closely during future missions (e.g. the Lunar Prospector).
Recently (on an Apollo 16 image of the Lobachevsky crater), I discovered two mysterious objects which cannot be explained simply as a "trick of light and shadow", natural hills or photo artifacts. The image in question can be found on the official NASA collection web site [see above].
The image covers a part of the Lobachevsky crater. The crater has a diameter of roughly 100 kilometers (~ 60 miles) and is located on the lunar farside (at 12deg n / 117deg e). On the image a fraction of the rim, a fraction of the crater floor and the lunar highlands beyond Lobachevsky can be seen.
Approximately at the center of the image, right in the middle of the crater rim, a prominent and surprisingly clear triangular structure attracts attention. The object is erected high above the surface and throws a shadow to the right side (I do not know if this is east, since there is no orientation given). This excludes a simple "trick of light and shadow" or a photo artifact. The object is real. Since the whole crater is 60 miles in diameter, you can roughly evaluate the size of the structure. It must be erected some hundreds if not nearly one thousand meters above the surface. Additionally, it seems to be flat in shape (unlike a classic pyramid) and very smooth.
Which possibilities of origin can we take into account?
a) It is a giant natural boulder and part of the Lobachevsky crater rim.
This is unlikely because all boulders of this dimension would be fractured, shattered and destroyed during the Lobachevsky impact. Nothing like this could have "survived."
b) It is part of the small crater behind it.
This is unlikely because this crater is too small to produce such giant impact boulders.
c) It is ejecta of another impact crater far away.
This is unlikely because according to its dimension it would have caused a further (secondary) crater, as we know them from many examples on the Moon. Also, it would have been totally destroyed during the impact.
d) It is a volcanic dome-like knoll, already consolidated in the Moon's crust and later pressed up from the underground above the surface (we know some examples from terrestrial volcanology).
This is also unlikely because of the following reasons: We never found something similar on the Moon until now; there are no additional indications of volcanic activity around the Lobachevsky crater area; it would be very unlikely that such activity would appear inside the crater rim, more likely on the crater floor (like in the Maria basins or big craters, e.g. Tsiolkowsky, also on the lunar farside); no volcanic activity would produce a triangular shaped flat object like this.
Other natural explanations do not exist, as far as I know. Admittedly, you can neither exclude an "exotic" natural origin nor that a natural explanation will be found some day. As of now, I cannot imagine it.
So, what can "it" be? I do not maintain that we are looking at a real ETA (extraterrestrial artifact) here, but I cannot dismiss this possibility. Additionally, only some miles to the south-east direction (if north is on top of the image) a further unusual object can be observed. It seems to be cylindrical and is conspicious because of its extraordinary white color and the "sharpness" of its shape. The probability that two unusual but natural objects are positioned so close together seems to be very low.
What we have to do is to analyse this image with all the possibilities we provide. If this shows us that there exists a real chance for ETAs and we still can exclude all "natural hypotheses," then it is very likely that we have the first real evidence for an extraterrestrial artifact on the Moon. Everybody can imagine what this will mean for all of us.
Notes:
[1] Arkhipov, A. (1994): "Invasion effect" on the Moon. Selenology, 13/1, 9-11.
[2] Arkhipov, A. (1997): Search for ruin-like patterns on the Moon. Selenology, 15/4, 18-20.
[3] Carlotto, M. (1997): On-Going investigation of lunar anomalies. See:
http://www.psrw.com/~markc/Other/moon/moon/html#CT
Original file name: CNI - Artificial.Moon.final
This file was converted with TextToHTML - (c) Logic n.v.