The Lunar Crash of 1953: A Crater is Identified

Details The Lunar Crash of 1953: A Crater is Identified The Lunar Crash of 1953: A Crater is Identified

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p61b0349b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P61B-0349

Other

5410 Composition, 5420 Impact Phenomena (Includes Cratering), 5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties, 6250 Moon (1221)

Scientific paper

In 1953 an amateur astronomer observed and photographed a flash on the Moon (Stuart, 1956). This event is the only unambiguous record of the rare crash of an asteroid-sized body onto the lunar surface. We estimate that the energy of the event was about 0.5 megatons, resulting in a 1-2 km sized impact feature, and that the radius of the impacting body was about 20 m. Such an event occurs every 10-50 years. Although below the resolution limit of ground-based telescopes, this crater should be visible on space-based images of the Moon obtained by the Lunar Orbiter and Clementine missions. A search of images from the Clementine mission reveals a 1.5 km feature with a high-albedo, blue, fresh-appearing ejecta blanket at the location of the flash. Spectral analysis of the crater reveals it to be bluer and fresher than other young craters. Our results suggest that the effects of space weathering occur rapidly on the Moon. Work performed in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Funded in part from NSF grant AST-0074555. Stuart, L. (1956). The Strolling Astronomer. Vol 10, 42-43.

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