The Moon Just Got a Massive New Crater That's Wider Than Two End-to-End Football Fields. It's a 'Once-in-a-Lifetime Observation'

The moon is rocking a massive new crater—and it’s the largest recently formed one that’s been found in the entire solar system. Researchers described the new feature, as well as changes to the lunar surface surrounding it, in two studies published September 16 in the journal Science Advances. Analyzing impact craters on the moon helps researchers learn more about our satellite and can inform plans to send humans and technology to our celestial companion.

The crater came to light in October 2025 when Robert Wagner, an image-processing specialist at the aerospace company Intuitive Machines, found a large bright spot surrounded by a dark halo in photos from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Camera system. That sort of composition suggests the surface material had been disrupted. His suspicions were confirmed when he compared before-and-after images of the region.

The crater emerged on the moon’s eastern edge sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024, the team found. At 728 feet wide, its diameter stretches just over the length of two football fields. It’s also 141 feet deep, meaning three vertically stacked school buses could sit in it.

Wagner and colleagues estimate that the feature was formed when an asteroid or comet around the size of a three- to six-story building struck the moon—an event estimated to occur just once every 132 years. Researchers named the moon’s new hole for pioneering lunar scientist Tom McGetchin, who died in 1979. The LRO launched in 2009.

For almost two decades, the orbiter has been collecting data on the moon’s topography, surface composition, temperature and radiation environment. After Wagner first spotted McGetchin crater, follow-up observations with the LRO’s thermal instrument, Diviner, allowed researchers to identify a four-mile-wide area around the new feature that is around 16 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than its surroundings at night. According to Powell and colleagues, the chillier temperature is due to the regolith—moon dirt—getting fluffed up by the impact, reducing the material’s density and ability to retain heat.

Additionally, Wagner and colleagues found that ejected material disturbed the surface more than 75 miles from the crater. That, combined with the expanse of the relatively frigid area, demonstrates the far-reaching effects of incoming space rocks, which have implications for people and technology that might roam that terrain. The opportunity to study the development and transformation of a large new crater is a fantastic way to do that from a distance, according to the outlet.