A Japanese astronomer has captured a video of a meteorite slamming into the Moon. Curator in charge of astronomy at the Hiratsuka City Museum, Daichi Fujii, recorded the moment of impact from his home in Hiratsuka.
“I was able to catch the biggest lunar impact flash in my observation history,” Fujii wrote on Twitter, as translated by Google. “This is a picture of the lunar impact flash that appeared at 20:14:30.8 on February 23, 2023, taken from my home in Hiratsuka (replayed at actual speed). It was a huge flash that continued to shine for more than 1 second. “
“Since the moon has no atmosphere, meteors and fireballs cannot be seen, and the moment a crater is formed, it glows.”
Fujii was able to capture the impact from a second telescope. He notes that the video is played back at normal speed.
This meteoroid (the name for meteors that are still in space) hit the moon near the Ideler L and Pitiscus craters, according to Fujii.
The moon, as you may have guessed from its extremely cratery appearance, gets hit by meteors quite a bit. In fact, thanks to our protective atmosphere, the moon is hit by around 20 asteroids for every one that hits Earth. Capturing them on film is still rare, though it does happen, sometimes during a lunar eclipse.
Capturing impacts like this, and studying the craters left by previous impacts, can help tell us everything from what kind of environment astronauts may face on the moon to how asteroid strike abundance has changed over time.
[H/T: Space.com]
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