A Meteorite Struck the Moon During Monday’s Lunar Eclipse

It’s the first-known sighting of its kind.

Bloodmoon. (Wikipedia)
Bloodmoon. (Wikipedia)

Meteorites and asteroids are hitting Earth and the moon all the time, but it’s rare for us humans to witness such an event taking place during the most recent lunar eclipse.

Some of the millions of people who watched the “super wolf blood moon” noticed a flash when a yellow-white speck popped up on the moon’s surface.

Jose Maria Madiedo at the University of Huelva in Spain confirmed that the impact was real and he and his colleagues had hoped to observe an event like this.

“I was really, really happy when this happened,” Madiedo told New Scientist. His team had increased the number of telescopes they were using to monitor the eclipse from four to eight in hopes of capturing the event. “I had a feeling, this time will be the time it will happen,” he said.

The size of the meteorite has yet to be confirmed, but Madiedo thinks it’s about the size of a football, weighing about two kilograms.

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