A Japanese astronomer, Daichi Fujii, has captured a rare and dramatic event, the impact of a meteorite on the surface of the moon.
The Plaza of Stars is located on the third floor of the Hiratsuka City Museum. It houses a state-of-the-art space telescope that is used to monitor lunar events. This late model design Planetarium is curated by Fujii. And he was able to record the meteorite impact.
Meteorites hit the moon
Using cameras set up to monitor lunar events, Fujii recorded the moment the meteorite hit the moon in real-time. The incident occurred on February 23 at 20:14:30.8 Japan Standard Time (7:14 a.m. EST, or 1114 GMT), and the resulting images show a bright flash of visible light.
The meteorite is believed to have hit near the Ideler L crater, slightly northwest of the Pitiscus crater.
Fujii estimates that the newly created crater could be around a dozen meters (39 feet) in diameter. Although it is unclear whether NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or India’s Chandrayaan 2 lunar probe will eventually get images of the crater. One of the 24/7 scans will most likely capture the crater site in the future.
