Meteorite smashes into moon in largest lunar impact ever recorded [1]
Astronomers have captured the moment a lump of rock slammed into the moon [2] with so much force that the bright flash could be seen from Earth with the naked eye.
The 400kg (63st) meteorite, travelling at 61,000 km/h (40,000 mph), punched a fresh crater on the moon's surface some 40 metres wide in what is thought to be the largest lunar impact ever recorded.
The rock, which was about a metre in diameter, ploughed into an ancient lava-filled basin called the Mare Nubium, producing a flash almost as intense as the Pole Star that took more than eight seconds to fade.
The impact energy was equivalent to 15 tonnes of TNT – at least three times as great as that from the previous record-holding lunar impact, observed by Nasa in March last year.