A Meteorite Hit the Moon During Total Lunar Eclipse (newscientist.com)

Observers of Sunday's lunar eclipse were blessed with the first known sighting of a meteorite impact during such an event. From a report: The so-called "super wolf blood moon" was eagerly watched by millions of people around the world, mostly via live streaming video. During the eclipse, some people noticed a tiny flash, a brief yellow-white speck, popping up on the lunar surface during the online broadcasts. One Reddit user raised the possibility that this was a meteorite impact and others scoured eclipse footage for evidence of the event. A flash is visible in at least three different videos. Jose Maria Madiedo at the University of Huelva in Spain has confirmed that the impact is genuine. For years, he and his colleagues have been hoping to observe a meteorite impact on the moon during a lunar eclipse, but the brightness of these events can make that very difficult -- lunar meteorite impacts have been filmed before, but not during an eclipse. On this occasion, Madiedo doubled the number of telescopes trained on different parts of the moon -- from four to eight -- in the hope of seeing an impact. "I had a feeling, this time will be the time it will happen," says Madiedo.

Comments

Not During Total Phase

[Anonymous Coward]

Just as a point of clarification, the impact was not during totality. It was during the partial phase of what would much later be a total eclipse of the Moon.

It's a little inaccurate to say the impact occurred during a total eclipse, because it actually occurred during a partial eclipse.

Re:I stopped taking pictures early due to the weat

[Tablizer]

I am able to see the meteor approach the moon before the impact.

That doesn't make sense. Typically the "splat" is at least 1,000 times brighter than the approaching sun-lit rock. I'd guestimate the size of the rock making that spot in the photo is roughly 100 feet across. You are not going to see a 100 foot rock in any amateur telescope. (Except maybe with a long exposure, but that would flood out the moon's image.)

Re:I stopped taking pictures early due to the weat

[Nidi62]

I I'd guestimate the size of the rock making that spot in the photo is roughly 100 feet across.

According to TFA, the current estimate is that the rock was roughly the size of a football and weighed 2 kilograms. It's not specified if they mean the round-type football or the American version (sorry to those down under, but it's probably safe to rule out a reference to an Aussie-rules football).