The Shard and the Tower
On an old NASA photo of the Moon, writers spotted a towering spike and a tall structure, and asked whether they'd been built.
What was reported
In February 1967, NASA's Lunar Orbiter 3 photographed the Moon to help choose Apollo landing sites. Decades later, writers studying one of its frames, near the crater Ukert in the centre of the near side, pointed out what looked like a gleaming, kilometres-high spike, which they named the Shard, and a tall glassy structure called the Tower.
The images were shared widely in books and online as evidence of ruins on the Moon.
Explanations offered
The Lunar Orbiter photos were developed on board, scanned in strips and sent to Earth by radio, and the copies are full of blemishes, streaks and specks. The 'structures' appear in one frame only and match these flaws. Modern high-resolution images of the area show only ordinary lunar ground.
- When
- Photographed in February 1967
- Where
- Near Ukert crater, the Moon
- Witnesses
- The Lunar Orbiter 3 spacecraft
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.