UFO fans spot tiny spacecraft orbiting asteroid as it passes Earth

A huge asteroid which sailed safely past Earth this week had an unusual hitchhiker - which internet conspiracy fans claim is clearly an alien spacecraft.

The tiny, disc-like object was observed using a massive radar array, NASA's Deep Space Network in Goldstone California.

NASA announced that the radar images showed that asteroid 2004 BL86 had its own moon, saying that such moons are actually quite common.

'In the near-Earth population, about 16 percent of asteroids that are about 655 feet or larger are a binary (the primary asteroid with a smaller asteroid moon orbiting it) or even triple systems (two moons),' the space agency said.

Not everyone was so sure.

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As soon as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory released footage made from still frames captured by Deep Space Network, YouTubers offered an opinion - it was a spacecraft.

Conspiracy site UFO Sightings Dailly said, 'This asteroid has a UFO flying in orbit around it. We can see from the detailed photo that the craft is diamond shaped and flat.

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'NASA of course goes on to say that this flat object which does not flip over end is a moon. Wrong! Any moon this thin would be tumbling end over end.

'This object is keeping itself steady, flying like a ship would in space. Great catch by Streetcap1 of YouTube.'

Nigel Watson, author of the UFO Investigations Manual says, 'We already know that the Comet 67P is a huge alien spaceship that has been sending radio signals to NASA for the last 20 years, and that was why the Rosetta spacecraft was sent there to make contact with its tentacled crew. So we shouldn't be shocked that a UFO has now been discovered orbiting Asteroid 2004 BL86.'

'Diamond shaped UFOs like the one orbiting the asteroid are not uncommon on YouTube. They are all sightings of scouting spacecraft that are coming here in vast motherships disguised as comets and asteroids, and are preparing for our downfall and enslavement.
All this was disclosed in Gerry Anderson's TV series that ran in the early 1970s, which clearlyshows this type of UFO craft and reveals under the thin veneer of fiction the secret battle between humanity and these space invaders.'

'Then again, they could all be the product of over-active imaginations of UFO hunters who see UFOs where others see lens reflections and blurry blobs. Until we get better evidence I think we can sleep safely in our beds for the time being...'