Watch the Biggest Explosion Ever Seen on the Moon

On March 17, 2013 a meteor with the explosive power of TEN cruise missiles has struck the Moon – sparking a massive explosion visible with the naked eye.

And terrifyingly the 56,000 mph collision – captured by NASA scientists highlighting the catastrophic danger planet earth faces from similar meteors – was caused by a space rock weighing no more than 88 lbs (40 kilos).

Despite the meteor’s tiny proportions – about the size of a small boulder and the weight of an average 10-year-old boy – the impact damage was colossal and the explosion shone with the brightness of a magnitude 4 star.

A spokesman for respected science website Science.com said: “For the past eight years NASA has been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteors. They’ve just seen the biggest explosion in the history of the programme. It exploded in a flash 10 times as bright as anything we’ve seen before. Anyone looking at the Moon at the moment of impact could have seen the explosion – no telescope required.”

Unlike the Moon the Earth has a protective atmosphere meaning most space debris burns up before it can impact. 

But bigger meteors sometimes get through. On February 15, 2013 at Chelyabinsk in Russia a 20 metre asteroid travelling at 43,000 mph breached the atmosphere and exploded with the power of 33 Hiroshimas. 

Fortunately because of the speed and angle of entry the rock exploded while still in the air but 7,200 buildings were damaged and 1,500 people were injured seriously enough to seek medical treatment.

The Chelyabinsk meteor is the largest known natural object to have entered Earth’s atmosphere since the 1908 Tunguska meteor, which destroyed a wide, remote, forested, and very sparsely populated area of Siberia.

Clips, images credit: ESO, ESA/HUBBLE & NASA

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