Orbiter Captures Once‑in‑Century Crater on the Moon

Robert Wagner spotted a bright patch with a dark halo while checking a lunar map made from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images. Comparing older and newer images revealed McGetchin, the largest newly formed crater yet found in the solar system. A rock estimated to be the size of a three- to six-story building struck between April 11 and May 22, 2024, leaving a crater 728 feet wide. Scientists estimate an impact of that scale occurs on the Moon about once a century or less often.