Japanese astronomer Daichi Fujii, curator at the Hiratsuka City Museum, shared footage of two meteors striking the moon’s surface. The first impact occurred on Oct. 30 at 8:30 p.m. Japan Standard Time, followed by a second on Nov. 1 at 8:49 p.m.
Fujii shared the footage on X, explaining that “since the moon has no atmosphere, meteors cannot be seen, and it lights up at the moment a crater is formed.”
Because the moon lacks an atmosphere, it has no protective shield to burn up incoming space rocks. When a meteor slams into its surface at tens of thousands of miles per hour, it releases an intense flash of light, visible from Earth.
According to Space.com, one of the meteoroids weighed an estimated 0.4 pounds and likely created a crater about 10 feet wide on impact. Fujii noted to the news site that “the pixels were saturated, so it’s possible the flash was even brighter than the recorded data suggests.”
Fujii suspects the meteors were part of the Southern or Northern Taurid meteor showers, which are active this time of year and known for producing unusually large, fast-moving meteors. If that’s the case, The New York Times reports the meteor may have struck the moon at around 60,000 mph.
The Times also noted that several telescopes in Japan captured the glimmers from different angles.
Fujii is currently one of the world’s leading observers of lunar impact observations, having documented 60 lunar flashes so far, according to Space.com.
Why meteors reach the moon
Unlike Earth, the moon has no atmosphere to protect itself. Our planet’s thick atmosphere vaporizes most meteors before they have a chance to reach the ground. The moon, however, takes the full force of every incoming rock, often at speeds between 45,000 to 160,000 mph. Even a small meteoroid weighing just a few pounds can blast out a crater several yards wide and produce a bright, momentary flash of light, NASA explains.