Astronomer baffled by UFO caught flying across the moon
UFO enthusiasts are often keeping a close eye on the night sky, hoping to see something out of the ordinary.
Oftentimes, the flying objects they see are supposedly flying over Earth.
Perhaps as part of some alien surveillance plan?
Needless to say, the credibility of some of these sightings are dubious, to say the least.
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However, an astronomer has gone viral after he claims to have spotted a UFO - but not near Earth... instead, on the moon.
Dr. Sebastian Felix Voltmer has shared footage from his C11 telescope, showing a disk like object passing by the moon.
He insisted that he was not a 'UFO fanatic', and did his due diligence to make sure it wasn't just a satellite.
Dr. Voltmer's first thought was that it could be the International Space Station.
But he then realised that it wouldn't pass by the moon at such high speed.
Perhaps it was a meteor?
Can't be so, as there was no white tail visible.
The International Meteor Organisation also has no records of any passing by at the time Dr. Voltmer was watching the moon.
So, what do we know for sure about this mysterious object?
Based on Dr. Voltmer's telescope's plane of focus, the object was more than 500 metres away which, given how vast and wide outer space is, doesn't help us much.
Speaking to German newspaper BILD, Dr. Voltmer said: "I actually assume that it was at an altitude of 100 to 200 kilometers, i.e. in the transition to the so-called Low Earth Orbit."
The possibility of the object being some sort of military equipment hasn't been ruled out entirely.
Planetary scientist Elliot Sefton-Nash also spoke to BILD: "The object looks like a series of low-Earth orbit satellites with orbits close together."
Sefton-Nash has pointed to Starlink as the most likely explanation: "As far as we know, Starlink orbits are often phased, so groups of them pass in quick succession."
For those who aren't in the know, Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, the brainchild of one Elon Musk.
Regardless of the true identity of this flying orb, it certainly won't be the last time something unusual is spotted flying across our night skies.
And it's not just astronomers catching glimpses of suspected extraterrestrials.
Miley Cyrus has admitted to seeing UFOs in the past.
The 'Flowers' singer said: "I was driving through San Bernardino with my friend, and I got chased down by some sort of UFO.
"I'm pretty sure about what I saw, but I'd also bought weed wax from a guy in a van in front of a taco shop, so it could have been the weed wax."
Call me a cynic, but I might go with the weed wax explanation on this one.
Ben Thompson