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In the night of January 20 to 21, the moon slowly crossed the shadow of the Earth, causing a total lunar eclipse among the peoples of North America. For the lucky few who watched the right moment with bright eyes, another rarely observed event occurred: a brilliant meteorite crashed into the moon.
A team of Spanish scientists collected a lot of information about this impact, including the size of the rock, the speed at which it struck and the size of the crater that it left. (A small part of Spain experienced the total lunar eclipse. However, the rest of the country experienced a partial lunar eclipse.)
The impact was captured by the Moon Impact Detection and Analysis System (MIDAS), a group of telescopes located in Seville, Spain, which was able to capture the impact flash at different wavelengths. .
In the study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists estimate that the impact object weighed about 45 kilograms and measured 30 to 60 centimeters in diameter.
"An object of this size, if it penetrated into the earth's atmosphere, would be completely destroyed," said Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society in London. "It would be a bright meteor, probably called a fireball, but it certainly would not reach the ground intact, but on the moon, it stays in one piece."
Indeed, unlike the Earth, the moon has virtually no atmosphere, which means that incoming rock debris will burn and slow down.
Watch as the moon is hit by a meteorite:
Although it is somewhat fortuitous to obtain a lunar impact, the lead researcher, Jose Madiedo, said he had a good idea of his chances that night.
"I do not know why, but … I thought this time, I might be lucky," he says. Thus, instead of his usual installation of four telescopes, he decided to use eight. One failed, leaving him with seven.
And then he saw it: an extremely bright flash on the outer edge of the moon.
Uncertain whether he had actually attended an event or not, he went to check his software, which confirmed him.
Madiedo took on Twitter to share the news. But he was not the only one to have seen it.
"I saw other people who were asking:" What happened on the moon? I saw something about it. " strange, … I saw a light, what was it? " He said.
The flash arrived on January 20 at 11:41 pm ET (it was January 21 in Spain) and lasted only 0.28 seconds. He released the equivalent of 1.5 tons of TNT, creating a crater that researchers believe could reach 15 meters in diameter. And it is believed that the debris that was ejected reached a maximum temperature of 5,400 ° C, which is about the same as the surface of the sun.
Even though it had been tried before, it was the first time that an impact was filmed during a lunar eclipse.
& # 39; It was worth it & # 39;
The eclipse lasted until about sunrise in Spain, but Madiedo was so excited that he did not intend to go to bed.
"When I was in the middle of the night, while the seven telescopes were working, I thought," What are you doing? Tomorrow, you have to go to work. You can not sleep. Is it really worth it? "Yes, it was worth it."
Here on Earth, we see debris entering our atmosphere as meteors, bright lights gliding over the dark background of our night sky. (Once it reaches the ground, it's then called a meteorite.)
This layered image shows dozens of meteors that a photographer captured in one night in Arizona during the Geminid meteor shower. The earth is constantly bombarded by space debris, sometimes appearing as luminous trails in the sky as it is consumed in our atmosphere. (Malcolm Park)
It is estimated that the particles falling on the Earth each year – large dust-sized parts – represent between 33,000 and 71,000 tonnes.
The new discoveries remind us that things are constantly bumping into our solar system.
"That tells us a lot about the frequency of impacts in the solar system," Massey said. "And it reminds us that the solar system is quite dynamic – you do not only have the planets and the sun, but also a lot of smaller bodies."
These are important facts for explorers who plan to return to the moon.
"[The findings] demonstrate that in fact, if you want to go back – and certainly if you want to build a base, and so on. – you must be aware of this risk and minimize it, "said Massey.
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