In the quiet discipline of routine observation, a NASA scientist scanning lunar imagery stumbled upon something the solar system had not revealed before: the largest newly formed impact crater ever documented, carved into the Moon's eastern edge sometime in the spring of 2024. The crater — 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep — is estimated to form from an event that occurs perhaps once a century, yet its discovery came not from a grand mission but from an unglamorous data-quality check. Named McGetchin Crater in honor of a recently deceased lunar scientist, the find reminds us that civilization's
NASA discovers Moon's largest newly formed crater, named for lunar scientist
Your stone, if well shaped, will hold its weight as time sweeps past
Mark
So Wagner was just checking data quality and stumbled on this? That seems almost too convenient.
Mimi
It does sound lucky, but it's really the system working as designed. He was comparing images from different times, which is exactly how you'd spot something new. The orbiter has been taking pictures for years, so having that before-and-after comparison available is what made the discovery possible.
Luke
Right, but we should be clear: the crater formed between April 11 and May 22, 2024. That's a five-week window. NASA doesn't know the exact date, just that it happened sometime in there. And we're calling it the largest "newly formed" crater—that's an important qualifier. There are much larger craters on the moon; this one is just the biggest one we've caught in the act, so to speak.
Mark
What does "newly formed" actually mean in lunar terms?
Mimi
In this case, it means we have images from before the impact and images from after. We can see the change. For most of the moon's craters, we don't have that record—they formed billions of years ago. This one we caught.
Luke
And the size—728 feet wide, 141 feet deep—that's substantial, but I want to be careful not to oversell it. NASA says impacts of this magnitude happen on the moon about once a century or longer. So it's rare, but not unprecedented in human timescales.
Mark
Why name it after McGetchin specifically?
Mimi
He was a lunar scientist, and he'd just passed away before the discovery. It's a way of honoring his work in the field. There's actually a quote from him written three months before he died that's quite moving—something about doing your work well and letting it outlast you.
Luke
That's a nice touch, but I'd note that the source doesn't give us much detail about McGetchin's actual contributions to lunar science. We know he was respected enough to get a crater named after him, but the reporting doesn't really show us why.
Mark
So what happens next? Does this crater change how we understand the moon?
Mimi
It's a data point. Scientists will study it, learn from it. The fact that we caught it forming—or at least caught it fresh—means we can understand the impact process in ways we couldn't with ancient craters.
Luke
The real story going forward is whether this changes our models of how often these impacts happen, or whether it confirms what we already thought. One crater doesn't settle that question.
Il Polso
- A routine image comparison suddenly revealed a bright patch ringed by a dark halo that had no match in any prior lunar record — something had struck the Moon.
- The impact, estimated to occur only once per century or less, had gouged a crater nearly the length of two football fields wide and fourteen stories deep into the lunar surface.
- Scientists scrambled to confirm the finding, pinpointing the formation window to between April 11 and May 22, 2024, using before-and-after imagery from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera system.
- The crater was formally named McGetchin, honoring a lunar scientist who had recently died and who once wrote of quietly shaping one's stone so that others might build upon it.
- The discovery reframes how science advances — not always through targeted heroics, but through the steady, unglamorous vigilance that turns an ordinary workday into an extraordinary one.
In the quiet discipline of routine observation, a NASA scientist scanning lunar imagery stumbled upon something the solar system had not revealed before: the largest newly formed impact crater ever documented, carved into the Moon's eastern edge sometime in the spring of 2024. The crater — 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep — is estimated to form from an event that occurs perhaps once a century, yet its discovery came not from a grand mission but from an unglamorous data-quality check. Named McGetchin Crater in honor of a recently deceased lunar scientist, the find reminds us that civilization's understanding of the cosmos is built, stone by stone, through patient and methodical work.
Robert Wagner was running a routine quality check on lunar imagery when something stopped him cold. A bright patch on the Moon's surface, ringed by a dark halo, had no match in the existing record. What he was looking at, NASA would later confirm, was the largest newly formed impact crater ever documented anywhere in the solar system.
Wagner had been comparing images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera system, which circles the Moon at roughly 60 miles above the surface. When he pulled the before-and-after images side by side, the evidence was unmistakable: something massive had struck the Moon's eastern edge sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024. The impact had carved a crater 728 feet across and 141 feet deep — an event scientists estimate occurs on the Moon roughly once every century.
NASA named the crater after Tom McGetchin, a lunar scientist who had died not long before its discovery. The naming carried particular weight because McGetchin had left behind a reflection that now seemed almost prophetic: 'Shaping your stone means quietly doing your job as well as you can. Your identity will soon be lost to history but your stone, if well shaped and polished, will fit into the structure we call civilization.' His name is now attached to one of the most significant geological features found on the Moon in the modern era.
The discovery stands as a testament to systematic observation — the kind of methodical, year-after-year work that might seem tedious but proves essential. Wagner's data check, unremarkable in intention, had yielded a finding that will occupy lunar scientists for years to come.
Robert Wagner was doing what he'd done countless times before—running a routine quality check on lunar imagery—when something stopped him cold. A bright patch on the moon's surface, ringed by a dark halo, didn't match anything in the existing record. What he was looking at, NASA would later confirm, was the largest newly formed impact crater ever documented anywhere in the solar system.
Wagner, a NASA scientist, had been comparing images captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera system, which circles the moon at roughly 60 miles above the surface. The system's three cameras—two capturing high-resolution black-and-white imagery and one collecting moderate-resolution multispectral data—had been methodically mapping the lunar landscape for years. But this particular feature was new. When Wagner pulled the before-and-after images side by side, the evidence was unmistakable: something massive had struck the moon's eastern edge sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024.
The impact had carved a crater 728 feet across and 141 feet deep. Scientists estimate that an event of this magnitude occurs on the moon roughly once every century, or even less frequently. The object that created it—either a comet or an asteroid—had left its mark in a way that would reshape our understanding of recent lunar geology. Yet the discovery itself came not from a targeted search but from the kind of methodical, unglamorous work that characterizes much of modern science: a data-quality check that happened to reveal something extraordinary.
NASA named the crater after Tom McGetchin, a lunar scientist whose contributions to the field had been substantial. McGetchin had died not long before the crater's discovery, and the naming served as a permanent memorial to his work. Three months before his death, McGetchin had written a reflection that would take on new resonance: "Shaping your stone means quietly doing your job as well as you can. Your identity will soon be lost to history but your stone, if well shaped and polished, will fit into the structure we call civilization and hold its weight as time sweeps past us and others build upon us." Now his name would be attached to one of the most significant geological features discovered on the moon in the modern era.
The discovery underscores how systematic observation, conducted year after year, continues to reveal the moon's secrets. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera system has been instrumental in creating detailed maps that have opened doors to discoveries that expand our understanding of lunar geology. Wagner's routine check—the kind of work that might seem tedious but proves essential—had yielded a finding that will likely occupy lunar scientists for years to come. The crater stands as both a geological landmark and a tribute to the patient, methodical science that made its discovery possible.
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Shaping your stone means quietly doing your job as well as you can. Your identity will soon be lost to history but your stone, if well shaped and polished, will fit into the structure we call civilization and hold its weight as time sweeps past us.— Tom McGetchin, lunar scientist, written three months before his death
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