Two mysterious flashes were recently detected on the Moon’s surface, sparking speculation and debate among scientists about what might have caused them on our nearest cosmic neighbor. Astronomer Daichi Fujii, curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum in Japan, captured the first bright flash on October 30.
A large, round spot briefly lit up the Moon’s surface before vanishing. A second flash appeared two days later, on November 1, near the Moon’s horizon as seen from Fujii’s viewpoint on Earth. This has left several astronomers looking for a concrete answer. Experts currently believe these flashes were caused by space rocks striking the Moon, likely linked to the passing Taurid meteor shower.
Meteor Shower on Moon
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The Taurid meteor shower, which appears every year in late October and early November, is caused by Earth passing through dust and rock left behind by Comet Encke, creating nights filled with harmless shooting stars.
Fujii explained that because the Moon has no atmosphere, meteors approaching its surface aren’t visible until they strike, producing a bright flash and a fiery crater. He noted in a post on X that the Taurid shower was at its peak when he saw the recent lunar flashes.
The astronomer was watching the night sky from two locations in Japan — Fuji and Hiratsuka — using multiple telescopes. Specialized equipment allowed him to instantly detect movement and explosions on the Moon’s surface. Over the past 15 years, Fujii’s high-tech setup has helped him spot nearly 60 lunar impacts.
“With my 20cm telescope, I typically detect about one impact flash every few dozen hours of observation,” he told Space.com.
“Because the thin crescent moon is visible only briefly and often low in the sky where thin clouds are common, I only observe a few dozen flashes per year.”
Nothing Unusual
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Back-to-back impacts on the Moon are a rare sight. The first, on October 30, appeared to strike just east of the Gassendi Crater — a huge scar measuring roughly 68 miles across, located at the northern edge of the dark plain called Mare Humorum.
The second flash, seen two days later, likely hit west of Oceanus Procellarum, one of the Moon’s largest lava plains, which stretches over about 1.5 million square miles.
“I want the public to enjoy science,” Fujii told The New York Times.
The space rocks that likely struck the Moon were estimated to be traveling at nearly 60,000 mph.
With no atmosphere to slow them down, objects hitting the lunar surface can reach speeds of up to 160,000 mph, producing intense flashes and extreme heat on impact. On Earth, our thick atmosphere acts as a protective shield, causing most meteors — especially from the Taurid shower — to vaporize before reaching the ground. This friction is what creates the bright streaks we see during a meteor shower.
However, new research suggests the Taurids could pose a greater risk to humans in the next decade. A study published in Acta Astronautica warns that around 2032 and 2036, Jupiter’s gravity may cluster larger, previously undetected chunks of space rock into Earth’s path.
These more massive fragments could produce dangerous air bursts, exploding in the atmosphere over populated areas. Some could even survive the fall and strike the ground, potentially hitting crowded cities and causing serious damage.
