Reports of the most significant crash of a meteorite into the moon Sept. 11 surfaced Monday the Association of Fundraising Professionals reported Tuesday.
"Our telescopes will continue observing the Moon as our meteor cameras monitor the Earth's atmosphere. In this way we expect to identify clusters of rocks that could give rise to common impact events on both planetary bodies," Jose Maria Madiedo, a professor at the University of Huelva who saw the dangerous spectacle when operating two lunar telescopes told Britain's Royal Astronomical Society.
According to USA Today, the meteorite rock was 880 pounds, and 4.5 feet in diameter when it hit the moon at 56,000 miles per hour.
Madiedo saw an eight second light shine in the sky following the crash that resembled that of the Pole Star, or north star located in the Northern Hemisphere, USA Today reported.
"At that moment, I realized that I had seen a very rare and extraordinary event," Madiedo told USA Today.
The impact matched that of 15 tons of TNT or triple the size compared to other documented crashes into the moon Space.com reported.
The rock's mass was 400 kilograms, equivalent to 1,000 pounds, and a center that measures 60 centimeters or two feet, and 1.4 meters or 56 inches the AFP reported.
Other asteroids like it have rammed the earth in the past but the atmosphere turns them into fireball meteors creating less impact on the moon USA Today reported.
Over 300 meteors have slammed into the moon dating back to 2005 according to information from NASA USA Today reported. The space agency intends to see if anymore crashes happen.
Scientists also have aims to research the situation more.
"We also want to find out where the impacting bodies come from," Madiedo told USA Today.
Madiedo used the telescopes from the Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System observatory in the southern part of Spain Space.com reported.
