Scientists have identified a large new impact crater on the moon’s near side, formed by a collision with an asteroid or comet fragment in May 2024. The crater, measuring approximately 728 feet in diameter and up to 141 feet deep, is the largest recently formed crater known in the solar system. Such a significant impact is estimated to occur roughly once every 132 years, making this event a rare opportunity for lunar research as NASA advances plans for a moon base.

The discovery was made by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which captured the initial images shortly after the impact. However, the crater went unnoticed until August 2025, when researchers identified the wide-angle photographs within the extensive data collected by the spacecraft. Follow-up observations last fall provided higher-resolution images, and the finding was confirmed earlier this year.

Named for the late Thomas McGetchin, former director of Houston’s Lunar and Planetary Institute, the crater is three times larger than the prior record-holder identified by the LRO a decade ago. While the moon’s surface is heavily cratered with features formed over billions of years—including some craters stretching over 1,500 miles—this recent impact disturbed the lunar surface across an area extending more than 66 miles. According to Mark Robinson, the chief scientist for the LRO’s cameras and lead author of one of two related studies, the collision propelled lunar dust and soil at higher angles than previously expected.

A second study highlighted a roughly four-mile-wide cold spot surrounding the crater, interpreted as evidence of loosened topsoil. David Paige, coauthor and researcher at the University of California Los Angeles, compared the process to “gardening” the lunar regolith—the layer of fragmented rock and dust on the moon’s surface—by mixing materials from below and above.

Since its 2009 launch, the LRO has revealed numerous craters that suggest the moon’s uppermost soil layer is overturned by such impacts approximately every 80,000 years, a rate faster than earlier estimates. This challenges the common perception that the astronauts’ footprints from the Apollo missions will remain intact indefinitely; Robinson noted these marks will likely disappear over that time frame.

Looking ahead, NASA plans to assess the risks posed by ejecta from such impacts to astronaut habitats envisioned for future lunar bases. Understanding the potential for debris to damage structures will inform engineering designs to safeguard moon installations against harm from similar events.