New Lunar Crater Offers Keys To Moon’s Shallow Subsurface

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has discovered a new crater on the Moon's near side, McGetchin Crater, which is 728 feet wide and spans two football fields. The crater was formed by a bolide that struck the Moon in the spring of 2024 and was detected in LRO images late last year. The crater is the largest new crater found on the Moon by the LROC since 2009. The crater's impact created a cold spot around it, which is 4 miles wide and 16 degrees Fahrenheit cooler at night than the surrounding regolith. This cold spot indicates that the impact disturbed the regolith and extended beyond the crater itself, some 7 km across. The discovery offers insights into the effects of impacts on the Moon's surface and the distribution of ejecta. The crater's size and the cold spot suggest that it is a significant impact event that could provide data on the Moon's regolith structure and impact history. The findings are important for understanding how impacts affect the Moon's surface and how to plan for infrastructure that may be exposed to fast-moving ejecta.

• McGetchin Crater is 728 feet wide and spans two football fields.
• It was formed by a bolide that struck the Moon in the spring of 2024.
• The crater is the largest new crater found on the Moon by the LROC since 2009.
• The crater's impact created a cold spot around it, which is 4 miles wide and 16 degrees Fahrenheit cooler at night than the surrounding regolith.
• The cold spot indicates that the impact disturbed the regolith and extended beyond the crater itself, some 7 km across.
• The discovery offers insights into the effects of impacts on the Moon's surface and the distribution of ejecta.
• The crater's size and the cold spot suggest that it is a significant impact event that could provide data on the Moon's regolith structure and impact history.

The discovery highlights the importance of studying the Moon's surface and the effects of impacts on it. The crater's size and the cold spot indicate that it is a significant impact event that could provide data on the Moon's regolith structure and impact history. The findings are important for understanding how impacts affect the Moon's surface and how to plan for infrastructure that may be exposed to fast-moving ejecta. The crater's discovery also underscores the value of continued lunar exploration and the need for advanced orbiters and landers to study the Moon's surface and its geological history. The findings also highlight the importance of cold spots as reliable markers of the youngest impact craters on the Moon.

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