Japanese Astronomers Record Bomb-like Flashes on the Moon, What Explosion?

TOKYO – Japanese astronomer and curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum, Daichi Fujii, managed to record a bomb-like flash on the moon’s surface. What’s that explosion?

According to Fujii, the video footage captures a meteorite falling on the moon’s surface, which causes a brief flash similar to a bomb explosion on the Earth’s satellite.

Meteorites head to Earth every day, most of them burning up upon entering the atmosphere.

However, the moon only has a very thin exosphere, which means meteors collide more frequently with the lunar surface and create explosions like the one shown in the video.

The flash time was recorded at 20:14:30.8 Japan Standard Time (11:14:30.8 GMT) on 23 February. “The meteorite appears to have fallen near the Ideler L crater, slightly northwest of Pitiscus Crater,” Fujii said.

According to astronomers, the newly formed crater could be about 12 meters in diameter and its formation can be confirmed by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or India’s Chandrayaan 2 space probe.

Meteorites fly at an average speed of about 48,000 kilometers per hour or 13.4 kilometers per second.

Their high-speed impact generates intense heat, creates craters and emits bright-looking flashes of light.

A collision with the moon can be seen from Earth if the meteor is large enough and occurs in an area facing Earth on a lunar night.

(she)