NASA astronomers have been watching the Moon for eight years under a special program, looking for signs of explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface.
The astronomers saw one the biggest explosion in the history of the program.
Analyzing data from the last several months, the explosion turned up on March 17, caused by a “lunar meteor shower.”
“An object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium,” says Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, in the NASA announcement. “It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we’ve ever seen before.”
The explosion was so powerful that people could see it from Earth without using a telescope. The 40 kilogram meteoroid was traveling 56,000 miles per hour when it hit the moon, causing an explosion with as much impact as 5 tons of dynamite.
Further, the explosion was likely part of a much larger event, according to Cooke.
“NASA and University of Western Ontario all-sky cameras picked up an unusual number of deep-penetrating meteors right here on Earth,” he says. “These fireballs were traveling along nearly identical orbits between Earth and the asteroid belt.”
One of the goals by the program under which the astronomers keep an eye out for these explosions is to detect new streams of space debris that pose a threat to the Earth and the Moon. The March 17th explosion appears to be one of these.
With the United States Exploration Policy eventually calling for astronauts to stay for extended periods of time on the Moon, such research gives future astronauts an idea of what to expect. “Is it safe to go on a moonwalk, or not? The middle of March might be a good time to stay inside,” according to NASA.
Cooke said he and other astronomers will keep an eye out for signs of a repeat explosion or explosions next year around the same time, and they also continue to analyze the March 17th event.
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