NASA finds record-size fresh crater on the moon from 2024 impact
A newly published study reveals McGetchin crater, the largest fresh impact scar yet found on the moon, discovered by LRO nearly a year after the strike.
What to know
- McGetchin crater, formed in 2024 and only found via routine LRO data review, is the largest fresh impact crater known in the solar system.
- Such large lunar impacts are estimated to occur roughly once every 132 years, making the find scientifically valuable ahead of NASA's planned moon base.
- A 4-mile-wide cold spot around the crater shows impacts loosen and 'garden' lunar soil far beyond the crater itself, with implications for surface hardware and rover wheels.
- NASA says it will next calculate the risk of ejected crater material to its planned lunar base structures.
“definitely be long gone in that time frame”
Mark Robinson, Chief scientist, LRO cameras · Boston Globe (AP) ↗ · Sep 15
Mark Robinson Chief scientist, LRO camera systemDavid Paige Co-author, UCLARobert Wagner Image-processing specialist, Intuitive Machines/LRONASA Space agency operating the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts
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NASA weighs risk of ejecta to its planned moon base
Robinson said the next step is calculating the risk that material ejected by such impacts could pose to NASA's planned lunar base, to help engineers harden structures.
“That information will help engineers harden structures so one won't have to worry about damage, or maybe worry less.”
— Mark Robinson -
first by CBS News, 7d ago · also The Canberra Times, NY Post, CTV News, Mercury News, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer +7
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- NASA finds new impact crater on the moon, cold spot around it UPI · 6d ago
- NASA discovers largest crater ever found on Moon wyomingnewsnow.tv · 6d ago
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- NASA satellite discovers a new crater on the moon that's bigger than the Colosseum CBC · 6d ago
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first by The Australian, 7d ago · also Bangkok Post, Yahoo News Canada, France 24 EN, NASA Science (.gov), NASA
4 more headlines
- NASA discovers new, ’once in a century’ Moon crater Bangkok Post · 7d ago
- NASA finds a 'once in a century' lunar crater, bigger than the Roman Colosseum Yahoo News Canada · 7d ago
- NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, ‘Once-in-Century’ Moon Crater NASA Science (.gov) · 7d ago
- NASA Orbiter Discovers ‘Once-In-A-Century’ Moon Crater forbes.com · 7d ago
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HOLY SHIT NEW IMPACT CRATER ON THE MOON This crater is 222 m (728 ft) across, and formed in spring 2024. Statistical modelling tells us this is a 1-in-132 year event. So the last time a crater this big formed on the Moon was 1894.
2 more of the top 3 · 11 posts in this stretch
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Don’t say there’s nothing new under the sun: meet McGetchin Crater, a lunar feature that's so fresh you might have to slap it. # NASA scientists spotted this new crater, which formed sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024, in routine images made by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. It's the largest known recently formed crater in…
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To quote a movie, "Begging your pardon sir, but it's a big ass sky." We're getting better but a lot of near Earth objects are small, dark, low-reflectivity rocks. We can't look everywhere all at once and we have some blind spots (looking near the sun, for example). Often you have to compare "timelapses" to see if something moved. We see and track…
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Researchers describe impacts as 'gardening' the lunar surface
Co-author David Paige and lead author Mark Robinson explain that such impacts churn buried material to the surface faster than previously thought, overturning the moon's top inch of soil roughly every 80,000 years, and that Apollo footprints will eventually be erased.
“We're now thinking of impacts as a way to garden the regolith — churning the sediments and putting stuff above that's usually below the surface…”
— David Paige -
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Two studies detail the crater and a surrounding cold spot
Scientists published two papers in Science Advances describing the crater, officially named McGetchin after lunar scientist Tom McGetchin, and a 4-mile-wide nighttime cold spot around it caused by loosened regolith.
“This event constitutes a statistically rare, effectively once-in-a-lifetime observation…”
— study authors -
background
NASA confirms the crater discovery — Early in 2026, researchers confirmed the finding after comparing before-and-after imagery and follow-up thermal observations.
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background
NASA scientist spots the crater in LRO image data — During a routine data-quality check, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image specialist Robert Wagner noticed an unusually large bright spot ringed by a dark halo in wide-angle images, leading him to realize he had found the largest newly formed crater ever recorded in the solar system.
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background
Asteroid or comet strikes the moon's near side — A fragment of an asteroid or comet, estimated the size of a three- to six-story building, hit the moon's eastern near side sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024, carving a crater 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep. The impact was not detected in real time by telescopes on Earth or in space.
What people are saying 7 voices from 2 sites · best of 11 · verbatim
- Sep 16
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have discovered a crater on the moon that’s bigger than the Roman Colosseum and is the result of a powerful impact two years ago that initially went undetected.” “The steep-sided hole — about 728 feet (222 meters) across and up to 141 feet (43 meters) deep — is the solar system’s biggest known impact crater…
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Bae. Wake up. New lunar crater dropped... two years ago. https:// apnews.com/article/moon-lunar- crater-space-nasa-80eea242ad275fda1f7a88587cdccd2f
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How fast would a Tesla need to be going through space to make a crater that big?
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the neat part isnt just that it formed, but that it went unnoticed for 2 years. without an atmosphere the ejecta pattern can look pretty subtle depending on the lighting, so repeat images from LRO are what make the dating possible. the size comparison to the Colosseum is wild though, wonder how much the crater diameter changes with impact angle?
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Individuato un nuovo cratere da oltre 220 metri di diametro sulla Luna. Si è formato tra l'11 aprile e il 22 maggio 2024 per l'impatto di un asteroide di una ventina di metri. Si stima che eventi simili accadano ogni 130 anni circa https:// science.nasa.gov/solar-system/ moon/nasas-moon-orbiter-spots-new-once-in-century-moon-crater/
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NASA craft finds a huge new crater on the moon https:// apnews.com/article/moon-lunar- crater-space-nasa-80eea242ad275fda1f7a88587cdccd2f?utm_source=DamnInteresting
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https:// science.nasa.gov/solar-system/ moon/nasas-moon-orbiter-spots-new-once-in-century-moon-crater/