Soviet Lunar Photos - What is that thing??!!

Whilst doing some background research on Polonium 210 (Hadn't heard of it prior to the recent poisoning scandal) I discovered it was used by the Soviet space programme as a short term fuel supply for early lunar missions:

Soviet Moon Images Index

Selecting mission photos at random, I came across this one which has a very strange object at 250 degrees of the 360 degree panorama:

Strange object Image

There were two other frames from that mission that also contain the object:

more images

more images

Given that it was only the second lunar landing on December 24 1966 what is that object and where did it come from?

[edit on 2-12-2006 by Scorpiomoon]

It was probably just part of the Luna that was meant to come off. If it was farther away from the landing craft, then maybe I'd speculate on it, but not when it's that close.

Originally posted by CaptainIraq
It was probably just part of the Luna that was meant to come off. If it was farther away from the landing craft, then maybe I'd speculate on it, but not when it's that close.

Although I agree, because it even states on the website that debris from the lander can be seen in the panoramic photo, I have to wonder. . .

It could just be a resolution thing, but why aren't their any marks in the soil around these artifacts? I would expect to see a disturbance around these pieces from an impact of some sort, and there doesn't appear to be any. There appears to be some soil on the one artifact in question, but again, nothing in the soil surrounding it. Strange. . .

2PacSade-

Hey anyone else know what these thing are?....




Iam probably just being paranoid but they look out of place there

Originally posted by Russian soldier
Hey anyone else know what these thing are?....




Iam probably just being paranoid but they look out of place there

Those were the specific items cited on the web page as debris from the lander. The one in the middle of the panoramic shot is the one I, ( and I believe Scorpiomoon also ), was talking about.

grammar

[edit on 5-12-2006 by 2PacSade]