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'Biggest observed meteorite impact' hits Moon


Waspie_Dwarf

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'Biggest observed meteorite impact' hits Moon

Scientists say they have observed a record-breaking impact on the Moon.

Spanish astronomers spotted a meteorite with a mass of about half a tonne crashing into the lunar surface last September.

They say the collision would have generated a flash of light so bright that it would have been visible from Earth.

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i'd love to witness something like this. or maybe Betelgeuse going supernova.

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Earths shield

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Earths shield

When it comes to protection from impacts I'd lose the Moon and keep the atmosphere any day.

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The new in the U.S. said it was an asteroid. Remember when we had real reporters who enquired of sources? Sigh.......

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The new in the U.S. said it was an asteroid. Remember when we had real reporters who enquired of sources? Sigh.......

I'm not sure what your point is here.

An asteroid is a small irregular object orbiting the Sun.

A Meteorite is a body (of cometary or asteroid origin) which impacts another body.

This WAS an asteroid right up until the moment it hit the Moon.

I'm no fan of reporters but in this case it is you that didn't check your facts.

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Why did it take 5 months to report this incident?

Firstly many astronomical observatories are automated now. These telescopes were specifically set up to search for such impacts and so it is highly likely that they are automated. Watching the Moon from the time it rises until the time it sets will produce hours of information EACH night and EVERY night that the Moon is visible.

Searching for a tiny flash of light that lasts a few seconds on an object as large as the moon is going to be a time consuming affair.

Then once they had found the impact they needed to do all the calculations. Measure the brightness, calculate the energy released in the impact, use the energy released to calculate the size and velocity of the impactor.

Once all this was done, this being a scientific paper, it then needed to be peer reviewed.

Then and only then were the team that made the discovery read and able to release their findings.

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Somebody out there with a telescope in the backyard is now rapidly scanning there observations from 9/11/13.

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Wow. That must have been a sight to see.

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I want to see the crater plus if there is any way perhaps some science of exactly what it was that landed there seems incredible perhaps there is something to be learned possibly unexpected

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I want to see the crater plus if there is any way perhaps some science of exactly what it was that landed there seems incredible perhaps there is something to be learned possibly unexpected

It wouldn't surprise me if right now people are going through images from the Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter to find the impact site. That will show them where it is, and then they can go back to look at earlier images of the site.

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