NASA spacecraft discovers a huge new crater on the moon
The crater spans 728 feet and a separate study found a 4-mile-wide cold spot around it, scientists said.
- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered a new crater on the moon in May 2024, formed by an asteroid or comet impact about two years earlier and identified in August 2025 after analyzing orbiter data.
- The crater, named McGetchin after a lunar scientist, measures approximately 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep, making it the largest recent impact crater known in the solar system and occurring about once every 132 years.
- The impact disturbed the lunar surface over an area exceeding 66 miles, creating a cold spot and loosening the topsoil, which scientists liken to gardening the moon's surface.
- Scientists estimate that the moon's top inch of soil overturns every 80,000 years by such impacts, implying that Apollo astronauts' footprints will eventually disappear; researchers are assessing the risks of ejecta to future lunar bases to enhance structural safety.
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341 Articles
NASA Photos Show Before and After of Massive Asteroid Impact on the Moon
NASA scientists have published before-and-after photos of a newly formed crater on the Moon that provides an unusually detailed view of what happens when a large object strikes the lunar surface.
The largest impact crater discovered on the Moon in recent times
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has detected an impact site on the lunar surface caused by an object the size of a three-to-six-story building. The event occurred between April 11 and May 22, 2024. It is the largest crater to form in the Solar System in recent times. The discovery was made in October 2025, when scientist Robert Wagner noticed changes in images taken by the LRO's Wide Angle Camera. After comparing archival footage with new…
Newly formed moon crater is once-in-a-century discovery
In 2024, a space rock slammed into the moon, creating a new crater in the surface. The newly formed moon crater is about 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep. The post Newly formed moon crater is once-in-a-century discovery first appeared on EarthSky.
A piece of four-ton rocket crashed into the Moon last August 5th and there the mark remained. The American probe orbiting our satellite has managed to photograph the hole and the result is smaller than many expected. The crater is about eighteen meters wide and ... Continue reading "I had been wandering for a year and a half without anyone controlling it until it crashed into the Moon: NASA photographs the 18-metre crater that left a piece of Sp…
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