What are the “pyramids on the Moon”?
The pyramids on the Moon are an urban legend that artificial structures like pyramids and towers exist on the Moon’s surface and that NASA is hiding them. They are sometimes said to be the remains of bases built on the Moon by aliens or by an ancient civilization that once flourished.
“Pointed shadows” in a probe’s photo
The story began with a photo taken in 1966 by the American lunar probe Lunar Orbiter 2. The photo showed several long, pointed shadows stretching across the ground in a row. Some researchers suggested that the arrangement of the shadows was geometric and might be the shadows of buildings like ancient pyramids, and it made headlines in newspapers. Afterward, claims of finding “pyramids,” “towers” and “domes” in Apollo program photos and others appeared one after another.
What the long shadows really were
The photo was taken when the sun was near the horizon and light was striking from a low angle. Just as shadows grow long in the evening, even small rocks cast long, pointed shadows when lit by a low sun. Later, more advanced probes photographed the same place, but no pyramid-like structures have been found.
Seeing what we want to see
Just as clouds or stains on a wall can look like faces, the human brain tends to find familiar shapes in meaningless patterns, a tendency called pareidolia. The Face on Mars is another example. Other urban legends surround the Moon, such as the Moon Mona Lisa and the Moon landing hoax theory.
