Get ready for an out-of-this-world revelation! Two meteors collided with the moon, and an astronomer captured the incredible moment.
Japanese astronomer Daichi Fujii, curator at the Hiratsuka City Museum, witnessed and recorded two bright meteors slamming into the moon's nightside on consecutive days. These flashes, visible from Earth for an instant, were the result of space rocks impacting the lunar surface at incredible speeds, creating brief yet dazzling explosions of light.
As we approach the peak of the Southern Taurid meteor shower on November 5th and the Northern Taurids on November 9th, meteors are not only lighting up our skies but also the moon's! Fujii's recordings, shared on his X account, showcase the dramatic impacts.
The first collision occurred on October 30th at 8:30 p.m. Japan Standard Time, while the second followed on November 1st at 8:49 p.m. JST. Fujii's calculations suggest that the October 30th flash appeared east of the Gassendi Crater, likely part of the Taurid meteor stream, striking the moon at an angle of 35 degrees and a velocity of 60,000 mph. The estimated mass of the meteoroid was a mere 0.4 pounds, yet it created a flash lasting just 0.1 seconds and excavated a crater approximately 10 feet wide.
"The pixels were saturated, indicating the flash might have been even brighter than the recorded data suggests," Fujii explained to Space.com.
The second flash, on November 1st, appeared west of Oceanus Procellarum, one of the moon's largest lunar maria. While the origin of these impacts is still uncertain, whether from the Taurids or sporadic meteors, the timing aligns with the showers' heightened activity. Fujii, who has become a leading recorder of such events, has been continuously observing lunar impact flashes since 2020.
"I started observing these impact flashes around 2011 and have been dedicated to it since 2020," Fujii said. "With my 20cm telescope, I typically detect about one impact flash every few dozen hours of observation. The thin crescent moon is visible only briefly and often low in the sky, so I manage to observe a few dozen flashes per year."
Fujii has documented a total of 60 flashes so far. Unlike Earth, which has a thick atmosphere that vaporizes most meteors before they reach the ground, the moon's virtually non-existent atmosphere allows meteors to crash into its surface at speeds of 45,000 to 160,000 mph, creating powerful bursts of light and heat. Even small meteoroids weighing just a few pounds can excavate craters tens of feet across.
For instance, a rock with a mass of 11 pounds can gouge a crater over 30 feet wide and eject over 75 metric tons of lunar soil and rock, as per NASA. This highlights the moon's unique environment and the powerful impacts that occur on its surface.
But here's where it gets controversial... Could these impacts have a greater significance? Are they simply sporadic events, or do they align with a larger pattern? Join the discussion and share your thoughts in the comments! Is there more to these lunar collisions than meets the eye?
