Unlike those of us on this side of the world, people in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and large swathes of Russia were all recently treated to a spectacular view of a total lunar eclipse — one popularly described as a ‘super blood wolf moon’, due to the fact that it was the first full moon of the year, really quite red, and a supermoon. If that wasn’t quite cool enough, review of the footage taken of the moon has revealed that, during the eclipse, it was struck by a meteorite.
[jwplayer gvkTjsCy]
While this might not quite be the catastrophic event you are picturing in your head, it’s potentially the first time that a meteorite impact has ever been recorded happening during an eclipse.
Jose Maria Madiedo, an astronomer from the University of Huelva in Spain, confirmed that the tiny flash caught by telescopes was indeed a meteorite impact, estimating it to have a mass between 2 and 10 kilograms and about the size of a football.
You can see the impact on the video below:
