11/22/2023 0 Comments What happend to the moon on march 4thHowever, the maximum width of the new double crater is similar to the Apollo craters.īill Gray, an independent researcher focused on orbital dynamics and the developer of astronomical software, was first to spot the trajectory of the rocket booster. NASA/Goddard/Arizona State Universityįor example, four large moon craters attributed to the Apollo 13, 14, 15 and 17 missions are all much larger than each of the overlapping craters created during the March 4 impact. The new crater is smaller than others and not visible in this view, but its location is indicated by the white arrow. But craters have resulted from spacecraft being deliberately crashed into the moon. This was the first time a piece of space junk unintentionally hit the lunar surface that experts know of. The moon lacks a protective atmosphere, so it’s littered with craters created when objects like asteroids regularly slam into the surface. The exact origin of the rocket body, a piece of space junk that had been careening around for years, is unclear, so the double crater could help astronomers determine what it was. But the double crater suggests that this object had large masses at both ends when it hit the moon. Typically, spent rockets have the most mass at the motor end because the rest of the rocket is largely just an empty fuel tank. NASA/Goddard/Arizona State UniversityĪlthough astronomers expected the impact after discovering that the rocket part was on track to collide with the moon, the double crater it created was a surprise. A rocket body hit the moon on March 4, creating a double crater, as indicated by the white arrow.
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