The moon hit by a meteorite: watch the flash caught live (which went around the world)

During a quiet night observation, a Japanese amateur astronomer captured a live impact on the Moona sudden flash that appeared on the surface of our natural satellite. The shot, taken while the Moon was in its waning phase, clearly shows a bright flash that quickly began to circulate online, reminding everyone how our satellite is anything but “static”. What makes the scene even more evocative is the ashen lightthat fascinating effect in which the Earth reflects light from the Sun towards the Moon, dimly illuminating its shadowed regions. When the Moon is positioned between the Earth and the Sun, observing it from space it would be in full “Earth full”, completely flooded with our brightness.

It is not the first time that a flash on the lunar surface has created a sensation: in recent weeks the New York Post reported the presence of “mysterious flashes of light” detected by observers and sensors, phenomena that attracted public attention but which experts quickly traced to meteorite impacts or sudden reflections. A confirmation that the Moon, stripped of atmosphere, remains an open book on which a new cosmic scar is imprinted every day.

The location of the impact

The glow captured by the amateur astronomer occurred at 4:35:40.2 on November 16, 2025 (shooting at 270 fps, slowed down to 0.03x). The presumed point of impact is located near Bradley Valleyon the western side of the Hadley Valleythe same area that welcomed the moon landing of Apollo 15, the fourth human mission to the Moon. A historically significant region, which has now also become the stage of a new cosmic fragment that crashes against the gray surface of the satellite.

According to the first interpretations, the meteoroid could belong to the Taurid swarmknown for producing particularly bright and sometimes larger-than-average celestial bodies. Due to the total absence of atmosphere, the phenomenon that on Earth transforms meteorites into a luminous trail does not exist on the Moon: no friction, no slowing down, no combustion. The glow we see arises exactly at the moment of impact, when the meteoroid explodes upon contact with the ground.

Scientists know this dynamic well. Most meteorites hit the lunar surface at speeds between 20 and 72 km/sreleasing very intense flashes of heat and light. Even a fragment of a few kilos can generate craters tens of meters wide. Just think that a rock of 5kg it is capable of digging a crater beyond 9 meters and lift approximately 75 tons of lunar dust and rock in space.

In recent years, missions such as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have documented the appearance of new craters formed by recent impacts. The most current analyzes have shown not only new signs on the surface, but also traces of metal oxides such as hematite and maghemite, elements that can form following the most violent impacts. A detail that reinforces the importance of observing these flashes: they reveal how the Moon continues to transform before our eyes, relentlessly engraved by the residues of the Solar System.