A team of Spanish astronomers, specifically from the University of Huelva and the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, observed on September 11, 2013 the greatest impact of a rock against the Moon. The finding was made through two telescopes of the MIDAS Project (System for Detection and Analysis of Impacts on the Moon) and has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society .
The impact of the meteorite, which had a mass of about 400 kilograms and a diameter of 0.6 to 1.4 meters, produced an 8-second flash, almost as bright as the Pole Star. Both details make this impact the most powerful collision and the longest flash seen to date .
The collision took place at about 61,000 kilometers per hour in the area known as Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds) and the energy involved in the impact was the equivalent of the detonation of about 15 tons of TNT.
Typically, these types of rock impacts (technically known as meteoroids )
They occur at speeds of tens of thousands of kilometers per hour, so rocks often melt and vaporize almost instantly on collision. The shock produces a sudden rise in temperature, which causes a visible flash from Earth's telescopes, but which usually does not last more than a fraction of a second. Hence this impact has been so memorable for the astronomical world.
