National Geographic reports a boulder-sized meteor slammed into the moon in March, igniting an explosion so bright that anyone looking up at the right moment might have spotted it, NASA announced Friday.
The blast lasted only about a single second and shone like a 4th magnitude star—making it bright enough to see with just the unaided eye, explains National Geographic. Check out the Image of the actual impact here.
The NASA monitoring program’s 14-inch telescope was the first to snag an image of the lunar explosion. Analyzing the images, adds National Geographic, researchers estimate that the object probably weighed in at 40 kg (88 pounds) and was about 0.4 meters (1.4 feet) wide. It crashed into the moon at speeds of 56,000 miles (90,000 km) per hour, releasing as much energy as five tons of TNT.
See an artist's perspective on the impact here.