[Cincinatus]

There is erosion on the Moon -- it's caused by the rain of micrometeorites on the surface, lightly sandlblasting the rocks and jagged edges smooth. Of course, it takes millions of years to do this, but eventually, all rough surfaces are smoothed over and rocks are ground into dust.

Anyway, this "thing" is entirely natural - it's either a clump of ejecta from some nearby crater or the surface expression of the compressive ridge, which are widespread in the highlands of the Moon. Here's how it looks in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images:

The Sun is coming from the opposite direction and the image is oriented 90 degrees ccw from the Apollo pan frame above.

You can personally explore anywhere on the Moon with the LROC Quickview image browser.

[Bellflower]

Are you sure we are looking at the same thing? Which thing is suppose to be it, the thing near the center bottom of the picture or the several lumps in a row center left?

[dr_lew]

The Sun is coming from the opposite direction ...

Look again. With the large double crater to the left of the "cigar", the lower slope is sunlit in both images. In fact the sun angle is almost identical. Hmmmm ...