A Once-in-a-Century Event: NASA Finds the Biggest Fresh Crater Ever Seen on the Moon
Wider than two football fields end to end, the newly named McGetchin Crater is the largest recently formed impact crater identified anywhere in the solar system.
The Moon looks timeless from Earth, but it is still being struck. In September, scientists confirmed just how hard: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) had spotted a brand-new crater about 728 feet (222 metres) across and up to 141 feet (43 metres) deep.
The biggest new crater on record
In two studies published on September 16 in the journal Science Advances, researchers described it as the largest newly formed impact crater ever identified in the solar system. One paper details the crater itself; the other maps how the surrounding surface changed when debris was blasted outward.
The impact happened sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024. Automated comparisons of LRO’s wide-angle images flagged the change, and image-processing specialist Robert Wagner spotted the tell-tale bright patch surrounded by a dark halo.
A name with meaning
The feature has been officially named the McGetchin Crater, honouring the late Tom McGetchin, a former director of the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Why everyone is talking about it
Researchers estimate an impact this large happens on the Moon roughly once every 132 years — meaning scientists got to watch, in effect, a once-in-a-lifetime geological event with before-and-after imagery. Popular coverage compared the crater’s width to two American football fields laid end to end, an image that helped the story spread far beyond science circles.
The discovery is more than a curiosity. Understanding how often large objects strike the Moon helps scientists estimate risks for future astronauts and lunar bases, and refines the crater-counting methods used to date surfaces across the solar system.
This story was written by the Celestia Times newsroom based on the reporting linked above. Details in developing stories can change; see our corrections policy to report an error. Illustration is original artwork, not a photograph of the events described.