The Moon crater announced in 2026 was made in 2024: how LRO found McGetchin

Dates that are not the same thing

1. Impact window — 11 April–22 May 2024

   The LRO image record brackets when the impact that made McGetchin occurred.

2. Crater identified — 24 October 2025

   Researchers first found the new crater by comparing Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imagery.

3. Papers and NASA coverage — 16 September 2026

   Research papers and NASA’s public report described the crater and its thermal signature.

The news was the report, not a September lunar impact

NASA’s 16 September 2026 account says McGetchin crater formed sometime between 11 April and 22 May 2024. It was first identified on 24 October 2025 by comparing images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. The papers and NASA coverage arrived much later, in September 2026.

That sequence changes how the headline should be read. A new report can describe a real, comparatively recent change on the Moon without claiming that the impact happened on the article’s publication day.

Sources: NASA: NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, Once-in-a-Century Moon Crater · Science Advances: A New 222-m Diameter Lunar Crater

Before-and-after images narrowed the timing

LRO repeatedly photographs the lunar surface. When researchers compare images taken before and after an impact, they can look for a new crater and associated changes to the surrounding terrain. In McGetchin’s case, the image record brackets the impact to the April-to-May 2024 interval rather than naming an exact moment.

The research reports a crater about 222 metres across. NASA also described a roughly 7-kilometre cold spot. A companion paper reports an approximately 8–9 kelvin temperature anomaly and interprets it as a consequence of disturbed, less-dense lunar soil. Those are linked measurements and interpretations, not a claim that people saw the impact happen.

Sources: NASA: NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, Once-in-a-Century Moon Crater · Science Advances: A New 222-m Diameter Lunar Crater · Science Advances: New Lunar Crater Reveals Extensive Distal Regolith Modification

The interval and the rate estimate have limits

The available images establish a window between 11 April and 22 May 2024, not a precise impact timestamp. The crater’s size and the cold-spot observations are specific findings, while the explanation of the altered soil connects them to physical models and remains open to continued study.

One paper estimates that an event this large occurs about once every 132 years under current models. That is a population-level estimate, not a countdown to the next impact and not a prediction for any particular place or date on the Moon.

Sources: Science Advances: A New 222-m Diameter Lunar Crater · Science Advances: New Lunar Crater Reveals Extensive Distal Regolith Modification

Practice reading a discovery timeline

Read the free guide to how discoveries are confirmed to see why image dates, discovery dates and publication dates each matter. For ordinary lunar observing, use a Moon-phase tool for phase geometry, not as a tracker of fresh impacts or local surface conditions.

Keep these distinctions

• McGetchin formed between 11 April and 22 May 2024, was identified in LRO comparisons on 24 October 2025, and was reported in 2026.
• The research reports a crater about 222 metres wide and a surrounding temperature anomaly associated with disturbed lunar soil.
• A rate estimate for impacts of this size is not a forecast of the next lunar event.

Original sources

NASA · source published 2026-09-16

Science Advances · source published 2026-09-16

Science Advances · source published 2026-09-16

Continue on the path you chose

Stay with free astronomy: related explanations, the UTC Moon phase explorer and the Sky/Science brief. The phase tool does not determine local observing visibility.