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The Youngest Crater

moon's surface with craters

The moon is literally covered in pock-marks, each of which formed when it was struck by an asteroid millions or even billions of years ago.

But there's a youngblood crater on the scene. The moon's youngest crater is only 62 years old!

In 1953, an amateur astronomer living in Oklahoma was photographing the moon one night, when he caught on film the most recent known collision of an asteroid with the lunar surface. Scientists today estimate the explosion was on the order of 500,000Â tons of TNT. The crater is about 200 feet deep, and the asteroid was probably about 66 feet wide.

Asteroids this size could hit the moon-or the Earth-as frequently as once every 10Â years. It may well have happened again since then, but no one seems to be on the lookout.

Read More:



"Fresh Crater Found On Lunar Images" (Science News)

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