NASA detects 728 feet wide moon crater from 2024 impact
NASA just spotted a huge new crater on the Moon, thanks to a comet or asteroid fragment that struck the Moon sometime between 11 April and 22 May 2024.
Detected by scientist Robert Wagner with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, this fresh crater is 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep, making it the biggest new lunar crater recorded in recent observations.
Impacts like this only happen about once every 132 years, so it's a pretty rare event.
Thomas McGetchin lunar crater requires planning
The crater, named after the late Thomas McGetchin, a former director of Houston's Lunar and Planetary Institute, didn't just make a dent: it churned the lunar surface for more than 106km and even created a four-mile-wide "cold spot" where the soil changed.
Mark Robinson, chief scientist for LRO's cameras and lead author for one of the studies, pointed out that impacts like these can affect areas way beyond where they hit.
This means future lunar missions will need to plan for flying debris and surface changes when building bases or sending astronauts back to the Moon.