Meteorite impact on the Moon is seen from Earth: Video

During his observations, the Japanese astronomer managed to take a video of a bright flash on the Moon, formed as a result of a meteorite falling on the shaded part of our celestial neighbor.

A Japanese astronomer took this picture of a meteorite hitting the Moon (a bright flash at the bottom left) on February 23, 2023. Image: Daichi Fuji (Hiratsuka City Museum)

The curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum Daichi Fujii recorded the event using cameras installed to observe the Moon. The event took place on February 23. The meteorite fell near Ideler crater, slightly northwest of Pitiscus crater, Fujii said.

The speed of meteorites averages 13.4 km/s (48 280 km/h). During a collision at such a high speed, a lot of energy is released, as well as a bright flash of visible light is emitted. Impacts on the Moon can be seen from Earth, as shown above, if they are strong enough and occur in a shaded area visible from our planet.

Given the brightness of the flash, the astronomer believes that a meteorite impact on the Moon may have formed a crater with a diameter of 10-12 m. It can even be seen by the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or the Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-2, Fujii says.

Meteorites also collide with the Earth on a daily basis, but most of them completely burn up when they come into contact with the atmosphere. However, there is almost no atmosphere on the Moon, so even small meteorites reach the surface, constantly forming a landscape covered with craters. These rocks constantly collide with the lunar surface, sometimes breaking it down to small particles, forming lunar soil, which will create problems for future astronauts of the Artemis program, because it is very difficult to get rid of it.

Earlier we reported on how scientists calculated the risk of a meteorite impact on a person on the Moon.

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