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Two Lunar Impact Flashes Recorded by Japanese Telescopes Get Independent Confirmation

The brief bursts, attributed to small meteoroids, are being used to refine impact risk estimates for future lunar bases.

Overview

  • Daichi Fujii captured flashes on October 30 at 8:33 p.m. and November 1 at 8:49 p.m. local time, with multiple Japanese telescopes recording the events from different angles.
  • An ESA Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre engineer said the impact flashes 'appear real,' noting they looked somewhat brighter than average.
  • The first flash was seen just east of the 110-kilometer-wide Gassendi crater and the second to the west of Oceanus Procellarum.
  • The objects struck at up to about 96,000 kilometers per hour, producing brief luminous bursts consistent with small meteoroid impacts on the airless lunar surface.
  • ESA telescopes did not observe the events because the Moon was too bright over Europe at the time, NASA declined comment during a funding pause, and a suggested Taurid-shower link remains unconfirmed.