Not having an atmosphere to ward off small meteoroids, the Moon’s surface is under constant bombardment by space rocks. NASA scientists are now collecting data about impactors on the Moon with an eye on problems they may cause future Lunar explorers.
NASA – A Meteoroid Hits the Moon
June 13, 2006: There’s a new crater on the Moon. It’s about 14 meters wide, 3 meters deep and precisely one month, eleven days old.
NASA astronomers watched it form: “On May 2, 2006, a meteoroid hit the Moon’s Sea of Clouds (Mare Nubium) with 17 billion joules of kinetic energy—that’s about the same as 4 tons of TNT,” says Bill Cooke, the head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, AL. “The impact created a bright fireball which we video-recorded using a 10-inch telescope.”
Right: A meteoroid hits the Moon.
[Click here or on the image to see the video]Lunar impacts have been seen before–“stuff hits the Moon all the time,” notes Cooke–but this is the best-ever recording of an explosion in progress.
Image courtesy NASA.
Hat tip to Dr. Tony Phillips of SpaceWeather.com