Scientists have announced they have found a “freckle” on the Moon.
Researchers at the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team have identified a new 22m diameter crater formed by a space rock crashing into the lunar surface.
LROC say the collision, which occurred just north of Römer crater, ejected material tens of metres from the crater rim, creating “bright, sunburst-shaped rays.”
They have described the find as “a new freckle on the face of the moon.”
This find is important for human moon landings because knowing where recent impacts have occurred helps identify safer landing zones and understand the lunar surface’s evolving conditions.
LROC said: “The Moon has been bombarded throughout its history. Although the days of dramatic collisions that formed massive craters are largely over, the Moon is still struck by space rocks (asteroids and comets) that create small, fresh craters.
“The LROC team identified this new 22m diameter crater by detecting changes in images taken before and after the impact, constraining its formation to between December 2009 and December 2012.”
The team say that over time, the rays will darken to the shade of the surrounding regolith as the material is exposed to space weathering.
“The LROC discovery of new craters is essential for understanding impact rates and crater degradation rates over time, as well as for planning safe, successful missions to the Moon,” they add.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera team is a group of scientists and engineers led by Mark Robinson at Arizona State University who operate LROC’s cameras to capture and analyse high-resolution images of the Moon, supporting lunar research and mission planning.
