A car-sized meteorite smashed into the moon last September, creating a flash so bright it could be spotted from Earth.
The moon does not have an atmosphere that effectively blocks space rocks from bombarding its surface like Earth does, a Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) news release reported. This explains the many craters dotting the moon.
"Since these impacts take place at huge speeds, the rocks become molten and are vaporized at the impact site instantaneously, and this produces a thermal glow that can be detected from our planet as short-duration flashes through telescopes," the news release reported.
Researchers were using two telescopes in southern Spain on September 11 2013 when they spotted an "unusually long and bright flash in Mare Nubium ," which is a lava-filled basin.
"At that moment I realised that I had seen a very rare and extraordinary event," Professor Jose M. Madiedo said in the news release.
The object is believed to have been 880 pounds with a width of between two feet and close to five feet in width. It is believed to have smashed into the moon at about 3,7900 miles per hour, creating a crater. The explosion was equivalent to an explosion caused by about 15 tons of TNT.
"Our telescopes will continue observing the Moon as our meteor cameras monitor the Earth's atmosphere. 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," Madiedo.
Observing moon impacts could help researchers gain insight into similar objects hitting the Earth. Through their observations the researchers gathered objects that are about three-feet-long hit the Earth more often than we previously believed, while smaller rocks are kept out by the protective atmosphere.
