NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Identifies New 728-Foot Crater on Moon
NASA scientists have confirmed a fresh impact crater, 728 feet wide, formed on the lunar surface between April and May 2024, an event estimated to occur only once every 130 years.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured images that reveal a new impact crater on the Moon, measuring about 728 feet (222 meters) in diameter and 141 feet (43 meters) deep. The crater, officially named McGetchin after scientist Tom McGetchin, was identified by LRO scientist Robert Wagner when he compared wide-angle camera images taken in October 2025 with earlier photographs from April-May 2024. Wagner noted a change in the lunar surface and, after verification, confirmed the impact of a comet or asteroid roughly the size of a three- to six-story building.
While the Moon hosts far larger basins such as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, most recent impacts are small and ancient. Researchers estimate that an impact of this magnitude occurs roughly once every 132 years. Follow-up narrow-angle camera images captured in December 2025 show the crater’s details, and early analyses indicate a surrounding area about four miles wide that is approximately 16 °F (9 °C) cooler at night, suggesting localized thermal effects.
The rarity of the event is expected to prompt further scientific investigations into the crater’s formation, ejecta distribution, and potential implications for lunar geology.