UNCLASSIFIED // PUBLIC RELEASERELEASE 01 · MAY 8, 2026
PENTAGON UFO FILE · IMAGE · NASA-UAP-VM006Apollo 17, 1972
Most NASA images in the PURSUE release are presented with no verdict at all. This one is different: the government says it has opened an investigation into it. The photograph was taken during Apollo 17, the last crewed landing on the Moon, and the feature in question is a set of three small dots forming a triangle in the lower right of the black lunar sky, visible once the image is enlarged.
What the government has said so far
The release concedes the picture is not new — it had already been published and debated by people who comb through mission photography — and that there is no agreement on what the dots are.
Two statements go further than for most files. First, a preliminary U.S. government analysis is said to suggest the dots may come from a physical object in the scene, rather than, say, a flaw introduced in processing or scanning. Second, investigators have obtained the original Apollo 17 film, and the release promises that a full joint analysis by NASA and the Department of War will be published when it is finished.
What “preliminary” means here
A physical object in the scene is not the same as an unexplained one; the phrase leaves open anything from debris or a piece of equipment to a reflection off something real. No candidate is named, and no date is given for the final report. Readers wanting the crew’s own descriptions of lights and objects on this mission can turn to the Apollo 17 voice transcript. This site will treat the image as unresolved until the promised analysis appears.
The official description
From war.gov/UFO, released May 8, 2026, quoted in full
As part of the review of historical UAP materials under PURSUE, DOW has opened a case to investigate the accompanying NASA photograph from the Apollo 17 mission, taken December 1972. The image contains three “dots” in a triangular formation in the lower right quadrant of the lunar sky that is clearly visible upon magnification of the image. While this photo has been previously released and discussed by keen observers, there is no consensus about the nature of the anomaly. New preliminary US government analysis suggests the image feature is potentially the result of a physical object in the scene. Additionally, as part of this investigation, the government has obtained the original film from the Apollo 17 mission and the results of the full NASA and DOW analysis will be released when completed.