A newly identified lunar crater, named McGetchin, was formed between April 11 and May 22, 2024, when an asteroid or comet struck the Moon, creating the largest newly formed impact crater ever documented in the solar system. The discovery, made by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), offers rare insights into lunar geology and impact processes.
Robert Wagner, a scientist with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and an image-processing specialist from Intuitive Machines, first noticed the crater during a routine data check in 2025. The impact, which occurred in the spring of 2024, left a 728-foot-wide (222-meter) crater spanning two football fields and 141 feet deep—deep enough to fit three yellow school buses vertically. Scientists estimate such an event occurs on the Moon once every century or longer, making McGetchin a once-in-a-century discovery, according to NASA.
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The crater’s formation was confirmed by comparing pre- and post-impact images from the LRO’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). Wagner initially spotted an unusually large bright spot circled by a dark halo in 2025, which led to further analysis. The impactor, estimated to be the size of a three- to six-story building, released approximately 65 billion kilojoules of energy—based on data from the LRO’s Diviner instrument. The findings are detailed in two new studies published September 16 in the journal Science Advances. One study, led by Mark Robinson of Intuitive Machines, describes the crater itself and the enormous amount of material thrown across the lunar surface due to the impact. The second study, led by researchers studying data from LRO’s Diviner instrument, examines a much larger region around the crater that was physically altered by the impact.
McGetchin’s pristine condition—unlike most lunar craters, which are altered by subsequent impacts or space weathering—provides a rare opportunity to study impact dynamics. Researchers found a 4.3-mile-wide (7-kilometer) “cold spot” around the crater, where temperatures during the lunar night were 14 to 16 degrees Fahrenheit (8 to 9 kelvins) cooler than surrounding areas. This cooling effect is attributed to the impact fluffing up the regolith, reducing its heat-retention capacity. The crater’s location along the boundary between the Moon’s darker, basalt-rich mare and brighter highlands terrain also makes it significant. This transition zone allows scientists to study how impacts affect different geological environments.
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The discovery highlights the value of long-term lunar observation. McGetchin’s visibility in both pre- and post-impact data allows scientists to study the immediate aftermath of an impact, something rarely possible. We’re extremely lucky it formed during the lifetime of the LRO mission,
said Powell. Future missions, including rover or crewed landings, could examine McGetchin to analyze its exposed materials. The crater’s ejecta blanket—extensive material thrown outward during the impact—could reveal insights into the Moon’s subsurface composition.
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The exact nature of the impactor remains unclear, though scientists are analyzing data from the LRO’s Narrow-Angle Cameras (NACs) to refine estimates of the object’s size and trajectory. The LRO, a remotely controlled spacecraft, orbits the Moon from a distance of some 35 miles above, carrying the LROC, which houses the Wide-Angle Camera (WAC). Designed to capture vast swaths of the lunar expanse, its native single-frame resolution is 0.01 MP, with each pixel resolving roughly 100 meters. Wagner discovered the crater by comparing hundreds of WAC frames snapped over nearly 15 years, as reported in Digital Camera World.
The crater was officially named McGetchin after pioneering lunar scientist Tom McGetchin. Its discovery in October 2025 was announced by NASA, with an overhead view of the crater taken on December 5, 2025, credited to NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines/Robert Wagner. The impact, which occurred in 2024, was not detected in real time but identified through comparative imaging. Models suggest that an impact of this magnitude is expected to occur on the Moon once every 132 years. The crater’s rim rises nearly 8 meters above the surrounding ground, and its depth is 43 meters, according to Digital Camera World.
The discovery underscores the dynamic nature of the Moon’s surface, even in the absence of atmospheric weathering. As NASA and other agencies plan sustained lunar presence, understanding impact processes will be critical for mission planning and hazard assessment. For now, McGetchin stands as a testament to the Moon’s ongoing geological story—and a rare window into the cosmos’ relentless activity.