Overview
- The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team measured the new feature as about 222 meters across and roughly 43 meters deep and published the analysis in Science Advances.
- The impact occurred in spring 2024 and produced a crater that models say is roughly a once‑in‑130‑year event, making it the largest newly formed crater documented in the LRO era.
- Thermal data from LRO’s Diviner show a multi‑kilometer 'cold spot' about 7 kilometers wide that is 8–9 kelvin cooler at night, consistent with loosening or decompaction of the upper regolith.
- High‑resolution images reveal ejecta and surface changes extending more than 100 kilometers, which researchers are using to map where thrown material could pose hazards to planned lunar bases and rovers.
- The find — spotted during a 2025 data‑quality review by image analyst Robert Wagner and now officially named McGetchin by the IAU — underscores the value of long‑term orbital monitoring and supports revised ideas that the Moon’s top centimeters of soil are turned over on ~80,000‑year timescales.