Asteroid hit the moon and flung rocks 120 kilometres from the crater — SkimNews
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- McGetthin crater, a 222-metre-wide impact scar, formed on the moon in 2024 and is the largest lunar crater ever observed forming in real time, first spotted by comparing NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images from 2024 and 2025.
- A crater this size is statistically expected only about once every 132 years, according to lunar impact frequency models cited in the research.
- Tyler Powell at Johns Hopkins University and colleagues found the impact left a cold spot roughly 7 kilometres wide, several degrees cooler than surrounding terrain during lunar night, because the blast fluffed up surface dust which sheds heat faster.
- A separate team led by Mark Robinson at Intuitive Machines determined the impact flung dust and rocks more than 120 kilometres from the crater — a distance over 500 times the crater's diameter.
- Powell said cratering is "probably the most common process that happens in the solar system," making a fresh, pristine crater an invaluable calibration point for studying how impacts degrade surfaces over time.
- The findings will help engineers evaluating surface conditions for future rovers, astronauts, and infrastructure on the moon, where understanding how far a single impact can scatter material directly shapes landing-site and routing decisions.
Why it matters: The first real-time observation of a 222-metre lunar impact gives researchers a pristine baseline for how fresh craters modify airless surfaces — and a striking hazard benchmark, since debris flew 120 kilometres from the crater rim. Engineers planning rovers, habitats, or astronaut routes need to know how far a single impact's reach actually extends, and how the thermal and mechanical properties of the regolith change in the blast zone.
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