NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for September 23, 2026 featured before-and-after views of a fresh lunar crater. According to the accompanying explanation, a comet or asteroid roughly the size of a humpback whale — about 10 to 20 meters, or 30 to 60 feet — crashed into the Moon sometime between April and May of 2024. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which monitors the Moon monthly, captured the images of the surface before and after the event. The resulting crater, named after Apollo-era lunar scientist McGetchin, is described as two soccer fields across. Craters of this size are only expected about once every 132 years, the explanation states.

Follow-up thermal imaging revealed a large cold spot surrounding the warm crater. According to the explanation, surface impacts puff up the loose lunar sediment, or regolith, making it less dense and harder to retain heat. The event affected an area much larger than the visible crater, which NASA says will inform understanding of surface impacts and the evolution of the Moon's surface.

The image is credited to NASA/GSFC/Intuitive Machines.