A nearly 900 pound meteorite, traveling at 40,000 mph, crashed into the surface of the moon in September, creating a massive new crater in what scientists are calling the largest lunar impact ever recorded.
The Guardian reports that astronomers have captured the moment of the meteorite's impact, which caused a flash so bright it could be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
The flash from the meteor, about a meter in diameter, lasted approximately eight seconds, and the impact was equivalent to about 15 tonnes of TNT.
The BBC reports that the video was captured by Spanish astronomers working as part of Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System (Midas) on Sept. 11, 2013.
"Usually lunar impacts have a very short duration - just a fraction of a second. But the impact we detected lasted over eight seconds. It was almost as bright as the Pole Star, which makes it the brightest impact event that we have recorded from Earth," said Professor Jose Madiedo of the University of Huelva in Spain.
Scientists estimate the meteorite left a crater 40 meters in diameter. The moon is full of such scars, due to the fact that it doesn't have the same atmosphere as Earth's, which burns up meteors as they enter.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
