Yep, that "moon hut" is definitely just a rock

Last month, China’s Yutu 2 rover captured photos of a strange lunar structure dubbed a “Moon Hut” or “Mystery House.” The mystery of this object allowed us, all too briefly, to dream that the new year would bring us incontrovertible evidence that little green men in fish tank space helmets and tinfoil jumpsuits had used their ability to traverse the vastness of space to build a crummy stone lean-to on the moon.

It gave us the opportunity to believe that our galaxy was actually home to mind-bending new possibilities—that we aren’t alone in this corner of the universe and that the near future was going to be more incredible than we could ever hope.

It’s now been confirmed that we, like an unfortunate cartoon child, just got a rock instead.

Space journalist Andrew Jones tweeted out the disappointing news earlier this morning and linked to a story that describes in a whole lot of words and pictures exactly how much of a letdown the Moon Hut has turned out to be. Jones writes that the structure is “so underwhelming it’s brilliant,” reporting that “it’s just a small rock on a crater rim that they’re now calling ‘jade rabbit’ for its appearance.”