Spanish astronomers say they have observed the largest lunar impact ever recorded after a meteorite crashed into the moon's surface in Sept.
According to BBC News, the scientists said the meteorite's mass was approximately one half of a ton. The impact was also so large, it would have generated a flash of light visible from Earth.
"This is the largest, brightest impact we have ever observed on the Moon," Jose Madiedo, of the University of Huelva in southwestern Spain, told BBC News.
"Usually lunar impacts have a very short duration - just a fraction of a second. But the impact we detected lasted over eight seconds. It was almost as bright as the Pole Star, which makes it the brightest impact event that we have recorded from Earth."
A study on the meteorite crash was published online Sunday in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The scientists said the meteorite likely weighed about 900 pounds and its impact was three times more explosive than one measured in March by NASA. That meteorite weight about 90 pounds.
The impact, which was equated to a blast of about 15 tons of TNT, is believed to have left a 43-yard crater.
"That's the estimation we have made according to current impact models," Madiedo said. "We expect that soon NASA could observe the crater and confirm our prediction."
According to Space.com, these blasts typically only last for the duration of a quick flash of light. This explosion that Madiedo and his colleagues said the one they observed lasted eight seconds.
"Our telescopes will continue observing the moon as our meteor cameras monitor the Earth's atmosphere," Madiedo said in a statement. "In this way we expect to identify clusters of rocks that could give rise to common impact events on both planetary bodies. We also want to find out where the impacting bodies come from."
