A new 225-meter (740-foot) crater appeared on the Moon while nobody was looking. NASA's lunar orbiter imaged the dramatic aftermath.

Such large impacts are once-in-a-century events. This one happened in the spring of 2024.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-new-crater-nasa-orbiter #space #science #nature #nasa

The new lunar impact obliterated the local terrain and scattered debris up to 120 kilometers away.

Image shows the region before impact; red line indicates the location of the new crater rim.

[PDF link]

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2026/pdf/1896.pdf #science #technology #space #nature

@coreyspowell no after pics? Otherwise it's just someone's red circle
@Lizette603_23 @coreyspowell the after pic is in the previous post
@btuftin ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh thank you.
@btuftin that's a hell of a crater

@coreyspowell

Thanks for having our back, Luna. 🤘
But next time you can let wunna them suckers just skate on by. 😉

@coreyspowell "A crater as wide as two American football fields"

225 meters. 225 meters.
@stefani @coreyspowell
How many giraffes in a football field?
@coreyspowell also, "as wide as two American football fields (are wide)"? OR
"as wide as two American football fields (are long)"?

*225 meters*

@coreyspowell

That's an ideal spot for a moonbase, since what are the odds another one will hit it!

@coreyspowell
That'll buff right out, Corey, but I'd guess that it blowed up real good when it hit the surface of the moon.
@coreyspowell
How deep would the colony/moonbase need to be to not all be killed by that, I wonder.
@coreyspowell How big would the crater have been if it had hit the Earth instead? The article doesn't say, but I guess presumably nearly the same size?

@skyglowberlin @coreyspowell

No, I would think substantially smaller. Atmosphere would break it up, in parts, slow bits down. And the ejected material would also not necessarily get that far.

@knud @coreyspowell Definitely the ejected material would not go as far, but I don't think the atmosphere would have much affect on a meteor of that size.

@skyglowberlin @coreyspowell

But the actual size wasn't mentioned, was it?

@coreyspowell
That’s where India reverse parked.
@coreyspowell quite the discovery! Do you know if it's on the near side or the far side? (I would assume the far side, but who knows!)

@coreyspowell

Probably snuck in at night.

@coreyspowell At least no one was hit...
@coreyspowell There have been a lot of meteors recently. In texas and Ohio and Michigan.