It's an upper pivot retractor shock strut for a Seti-Alpha6 Interstellar turboCruise landing gear. It's not a UFO if it's identified, right? Oh, and it's not a good idea to actually touch them as they contain almost as much radiation as 20 Chernobyl reactors. I imagine that measuring tape is a melted blob by now and your hand is growing extra fingers at a mildly disturbing rate. Never worry, though. Turn an analogue radio to the 'fuzz' frequencies in the 88MHz spectrum and put a window fan next to the speaker. Wave your artifact near the fan and you'll be able to hear a staccato high pitch warble that is like a dog whistle to aliens. The ones that lost it will come back to retrieve it and likely pay you a nice reward. Better act quickly because by now you are probably developing the ability to grow extra brains of which only a few you will be able to control. Let us know how it goes!

OH, It could just be a section of very oddly weathered rebar but it's probably alien technology.