NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) team identified a fresh lunar impact crater named McGetchin, measuring 222 meters (728 feet) across and about 43 meters (141 feet) deep. That diameter is larger than Rome’s Colosseum, a useful scale comparison—but the crater’s measured dimensions tell the story more precisely. It formed sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024, and was reported in September 2026.
How big is the new Moon crater?
McGetchin crater is 222 meters (728 feet) in diameter and approximately 43 meters (141 feet) deep, according to NASA’s September 16, 2026 account. The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) also reports the 222-meter diameter and gives an average depth of about 43 meters in its September 16, 2026 release.
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The Colosseum comparison conveys the crater’s scale, but does not mean the crater is larger than every lunar feature. NASA describes McGetchin as the largest newly formed crater found in recent times during LRO’s mission—not larger than the Moon’s ancient impact basins.
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The impact occurred between April 11 and May 22, 2024, on the Moon’s eastern edge. NASA says the object was likely a comet or asteroid roughly the size of a three- to six-story building. Its exact composition, mass, and speed have not been established in the published accounts.
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The impact excavated lunar material and scattered it outward as ejecta. The bright mark visible in the broad image is that ejecta pattern, not the crater hole itself. LPI places the crater near the boundary between the Moon’s cratered highlands and a broad, flat mare.
How did LRO scientists find it?
Robert Wagner, an image-processing specialist with Intuitive Machines working on LRO camera data, noticed an unusually bright patch surrounded by a dark halo while examining a global map assembled from Wide-Angle Camera images. He recalled, “I just stopped, dropped everything, and started looking into what that spot was.”
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The team checked images from different dates to determine whether the feature was new, then examined it using sharper Narrow-Angle Camera observations. This before-and-after approach can reveal fresh craters by showing changes against older lunar imagery; NASA describes the method in its guide to detecting new craters.
Why is this impact scientifically important?
Fresh impacts provide scientists a chance to study the effects of a collision before subsequent exposure and micrometeorite bombardment alter the evidence. The crater is also a reminder that lunar impacts continue today: on the airless Moon, impact marks can persist rather than being quickly erased by weather or flowing water.
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LRO’s Diviner thermal instrument detected a cold region about four miles wide around McGetchin. NASA reports that the area was about 16 degrees Fahrenheit cooler at night than nearby ground. The proposed explanation is that the impact loosened, or “fluffed up,” the surrounding regolith. Less compact material may retain heat less effectively, so the disturbance’s thermal signature extends beyond the crater rim. NASA’s overview of lunar craters explains how impacts excavate material and modify nearby ground.
That broader disturbance matters for understanding the lunar surface future rover wheels may encounter: an impact can change the texture and thermal behavior of ground well outside the visible hole.
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How rare is a crater this size?
NASA estimates that impacts of this magnitude occur on the Moon about once in a century or even longer. LPI gives an estimate of roughly once every 130 years. These are statistical estimates, not a timetable or a prediction of when the next comparable impact will happen.
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