Great meteorite discovered on the moon

The moon has a new pit on the surface after a giant stone hit it in March.

The US Aeronautics Agency (NASA) announced that the rock rushed into the moon on March 17 at a speed of 90,000km / h, creating a hole about 20m in diameter. The collision also caused an explosion and a flash of light was so strong that humans could see with the naked eye, the AP reported.

Picture 1 of Great meteorite discovered on the moon
The meteorite illustration hit the moon on March 17. (Photo: NASA)

"Light flashes are nearly 10 times brighter than the strongest flashes we've seen," said Bill Cooke, a NASA researcher.

NASA astronomers have been monitoring meteorites that hit the moon in the past 8 years, but they have not seen such a strong collision. They did not see the explosion on March 17 when it happened. It was only when Ron Suggs, a NASA analyst, reviewed a video shot by a telescope, he realized the explosion.

Picture 2 of Great meteorite discovered on the moon
The meteorite position plunges into the moon on March 17. (Photo: NASA)

Suggs and colleagues said that the stone has a width of 30 to 40cm, a volume of about 40kg. The explosion has the same destructive power as 5 tons of TNT.

The planet has an atmosphere to prevent the impact of meteorites. Because there is no atmosphere, the moon becomes the target that all meteors can bombard. According to NASA calculations, more than 300 meteorites hit the moon from 2005 to the present.