NASA scientist discovers largest, newly formed 'once-in-a-century' moon crater after asteroid impact
A NASA scientist discovered the largest, newly formed crater ever found in the solar system after an asteroid crashed into the Earths surface.
NASA spacecraft discovers 'once-in-a-lifetime' moon crater
Bethany Ehlmann, president of The Planetary Society, joins FOX Weather to discuss how a NASA spacecraft spotted a "once-in-a-lifetime" moon crater during a routine data quality check.
THE TAKEAWAY
- A NASA scientist discovered the largest newly formed impact crater ever documented in the solar system.
- The McGetchin Crater formed on the moon between April 11 and May 22, 2024, after a comet or asteroid struck the lunar surface.
- The crater honors lunar scientist Tom McGetchin.
A routine comparison of lunar images led a NASA scientist to a history-making discovery: a newly formed impact crater on the moon.
During a routine data-quality check of a global map of the moon, NASA’s Robert Wagner spotted an unusually large bright patch surrounded by a dark halo — a sight that stopped him in his tracks.
This wasn't a routine discovery. Scientists say it is the largest newly formed impact crater ever identified in the solar system.
After spotting the bright patch, Wagner compared before and after images, confirming the groundbreaking discovery.
A zoomed-in view of McGetchin crater, circled in the left panel, compared with a 2011 "before" image on the right. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the newer image in summer 2025 after an impact between April 11 and May 22, 2024. The white spot is ejecta—not the crater itself—from a rock potentially the size of a three- to six-story building. The images span 38 miles.
(NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines/Robert Wagner)
McGetchin Crater, named in honor of lunar scientist Tom McGetchin, formed on the moon’s eastern edge sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024, after a comet or asteroid struck the lunar surface, NASA said.
In a memorial, published by the U.S. Geological Society of America, McGetchin wrote three months before his death: "Shaping your stone means quietly doing your job as well as you can. Your identity will soon be lost to history but your stone, if well shaped and polished, will fit into the structure we call civilization and hold its weight as time sweeps past us and others build upon us."
His legacy now has a permanent place on the moon in the form of the largest and newly formed crater ever identified.
Before and after images after an asteroid crashed into the moon and formed the McGetchin Crater.
(NASA Goddard/UCLA/JHU APL / NASA)
A discovery of this magnitude doesn't happen in every routine scan.
The impact carved out a crater 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep.
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According to NASA, scientists estimate that an impact of this magnitude happens on the moon about once in a century or even longer.
A global map of the Moon created from hundreds of images captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image specialist Robert Wagner compared two image sets taken years apart, highlighting unchanged areas in gray and changes as bright or dark patches. The black arrow points to McGetchin crater.
(NASA)
The discovery was made using NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera system.
Orbiting roughly 60 miles above the moon, the system uses two cameras to capture high-resolution black-and-white images and a third to collect moderate-resolution multispectral imagery.
Over the years, scientists have used those images to create detailed lunar maps, opening the door to discoveries that continue to expand our understanding of the moon.