Largest recent lunar crater found

What's happened

Scientists have identified a 222‑metre‑wide, up to 43‑metre‑deep crater on the Moon formed in spring 2024 and first spotted in LRO images in 2025. The impact churned material across more than 100 km, produced a roughly 7‑km cold spot and has provided rare data scientists say will inform risk assessments for planned lunar bases.

What's behind the headline?

What the discovery shows

• The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed a 222‑metre diameter crater, named McGetchin, formed by an object roughly 9–21 metres across (sources estimate 30–70 feet). The strike has rearranged surface material for more than 100 km and produced a four‑mile (7 km) cold spot where loosened regolith cools faster at night.

Technical implications

• Ejecta reached higher angles and farther distances than models expected, which means engineering for habitats and landers will need to account for longer‑range debris hazards. Engineers will use ejecta maps to test shielding and placement strategies.

Scientific value

• The impact provides a rare, dated case study of a modern large strike. The site gives scientists access to subsurface material that has been excavated and exposed, aiding studies of regolith gardening, thermal properties and crater formation mechanics.

Practical forecast

• Work to quantify the probability of damaging ejecta will accelerate. This will force mission planners to revise risk models and to consider hardened structures, launch/landing windows and site selection to reduce strike and secondary‑debris risk.

Wider consequences

• The discovery will increase urgency for continuous, automated monitoring of lunar impacts and for including impact scenarios in Artemis‑era and other nations' base plans.

How we got here

NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been mapping the Moon since 2009 and has repeatedly revealed fresh impacts. Researchers have dated the new basin to spring 2024 by comparing older and newer LRO images; they have published two studies in Science Advances describing the crater and its effects on the surrounding regolith.

Our analysis

The New York Times (Robin George Andrews, Sept. 21, 2026) described the crater as "a whopping 728 feet across" and reported that comparing older and newer Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images allowed scientists to date the impact to spring 2024. Sky News (May 2024 discovery noted in LRO scan; Mark Robinson quoted) and AP News (Sept. 16, 2026) reported the same size and timing and highlighted that the crater churned material over more than 66 miles (100 km). Arab News and France 24 echoed those details and quoted researchers saying the event "constitutes a statistically rare, effectively once‑in‑a‑lifetime observation" and noting the 7‑km cold spot around the crater, a finding detailed by Mark Robinson and David Paige in the Science Advances studies. The New York Times (Kenneth Chang and others) and Sky News emphasized the crater's value for future crewed missions; Sky News quoted Robert Wagner describing how the feature first stood out as "a large bright spot circled by a dark halo." Together the outlets provide consistent measurements and interpretation: LRO imaging dated the strike to between April and May 2024, later identified in 2025, and follow‑up LRO imaging this year confirmed dimensions and regional thermal effects.

Go deeper

• How will NASA and partners incorporate ejecta risk into chosen base locations?
• What engineering changes will be required to protect habitats from secondary debris?
• Will continuous automated lunar monitoring be funded and expanded after this finding?

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