A startling claim about the Moon is racing across social media.

Ukrainian astronomers say high-speed telescope footage captured more than 20 unidentified objects near or across the lunar surface.

Some of their estimates are enormous.

But before anybody starts packing for an alien-hunting trip, there is an important catch.

BREAKING: Ukrainian astronomers claim to have detected more than 20 giant UFOs near the Moon, some allegedly as large as Manhattan — suggesting the Moon may serve as a “base for UFOs.”

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) August 5, 2026

The viral post is based on a real manuscript from researchers affiliated with the Main Astronomical Observatory of Ukraine.

The manuscript does not, however, amount to independent proof that alien spacecraft are parked near the Moon.

Here is what the researchers say they found.

The author-uploaded paper, “UFOs on the Moon”, is credited to Boris Zhilyaev, Vladimir Petukhov and Sergey Pokhvala of Ukraine’s Main Astronomical Observatory.

According to the manuscript, the team recorded the Moon from Vinarivka in southern Kyiv Oblast on September 7, 2025. They used an Intes-Alter M603 telescope with an ASI 294 Pro camera and captured frames at intervals of 0.05 seconds.

The authors say they applied offset, dark-frame and flat-field calibration to reduce camera noise, pixel-sensitivity differences and uneven illumination. When they examined the footage, they counted more than 20 dark image features.

They split those features into two unusual categories. “Atmospheric” objects appeared stationary relative to the Moon, while “continental” objects appeared to move across the lunar surface.

One reconstructed ring-shaped feature was estimated at roughly 39 kilometers — about 24 miles — across. The authors also calculated a speed of about 19.5 kilometers per second for a moving feature by comparing frames taken 2.5 seconds apart.

That is the detail powering the “as large as Manhattan” headlines.

Yet those figures depend heavily on the assumption that the features really were at the Moon’s distance and on estimates of how reflective the supposed objects were. The manuscript describes some size values as ranging from hundreds of meters to several kilometers depending on the assumed reflectivity.

In other words, the camera recorded dark features. The extraordinary size and speed claims come from the authors’ interpretation of those features.

And that is where the story gets complicated.

The manuscript was uploaded by one of its authors in November 2025. It is not presented as a peer-reviewed journal article, and the paper does not show independent replication by a separate observatory.

That matters because a distant object crossing the Moon’s apparent face can look dramatically larger and faster if its distance is assumed incorrectly. A nearby insect, bird, satellite or atmospheric artifact can appear in the same line of sight as the Moon without being anywhere near it.

The current manuscript deserves evaluation on its own data, but this research group also has a controversial history.

A report from Space.com explains that a Ukrainian academy panel formally criticized an earlier 2022 UAP paper from the same group. The panel said the processing and interpretation were performed at an inappropriate scientific level and contained significant errors in determining object distances.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb separately argued that the earlier report’s distance estimates could have been too large by a factor of ten. At a much closer distance, he said, the reported sizes and speeds could fit ordinary artillery shells; closer still, insects could create dark, fast-looking features.

The academy review also faulted the earlier authors for failing to rule out natural phenomena and ordinary human-made objects.

That criticism addressed the group’s earlier Ukraine-sky observations, not this newer Moon manuscript. Still, it shows exactly why independent distance measurements and confirmation from multiple observatories are crucial before accepting a claim this extraordinary.

The Main Astronomical Observatory makes clear that its researchers have pursued these questions for years using high-speed cameras and meteor-observation stations.

Its overview says the team used two stations for meteor observations and high-speed daytime video to detect and measure fast-moving features. It describes bright and dark categories, distance estimates based on parallax or visible-light colorimetry, and claimed examples ranging from low-altitude objects to one placed hundreds of miles above Earth.

The page also shows how far the researchers’ interpretation goes. It attributes unearthly origins and unknown technology to some earlier objects, with claimed speeds and accelerations far beyond conventional aircraft.

The observatory page links to a series of papers dating back to 2022, including studies of UAP properties, observations over Kyiv and variable objects. That record confirms a sustained research effort, but it does not provide independent confirmation that the reported features are alien machines.

Those are the researchers’ conclusions, not a scientific consensus.

The distinction between “unidentified” and “extraterrestrial” is doing a lot of work here.

An image feature can remain unidentified because the data are incomplete. That does not automatically make it alien technology.

NASA’s position remains much more cautious.

In its current UAP frequently asked questions, NASA says it has found no credible evidence of extraterrestrial life and no evidence that UAP are extraterrestrial.

The agency says most UAP reports contain too little high-quality data to support firm scientific conclusions. Its focus is on better measurements, reliable metadata and methods that can separate genuine anomalies from aircraft, balloons, sensor effects and known natural phenomena.

That standard is especially important for a claim involving objects supposedly tens of miles wide near the most watched body in the night sky.

If giant machines were actually operating around the Moon, confirmation should not have to rest on one telescope, one observing location and model-dependent estimates. Other observatories should be able to detect them, calculate their distance and reproduce the result.

Until that happens, the honest conclusion is both less explosive and more interesting.

Ukrainian researchers recorded image features they have not explained and interpreted them as objects of astonishing scale. The footage may warrant closer examination.

But a fleet of alien craft — much less a secret Moon base — has not been established.

The mystery is real. The answer is still very much up for debate.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.