Jose Madiedo works in the Department of Experimental Sciences at the University of Huelva in Spain, and he confirmed that there was indeed an impact during the eclipse.
He doubled the number of telescopes the program usually has pointed at the Moon - from four to eight - and crossed his fingers.
Further investigation will be necessary to determine the size of the meteoroid and obtain pictures of its impact crater, but for a basis of comparison, the LCROSS mission plowed a Centaur upper stage (2.2 tons) into the lunar surface at 2.5 km/s. Wait, it's a meteorite hitting the moon? "I was really, really happy when [it did]".
"But I made the extra effort to prepare the new telescopes because I had the feeling that this time would be 'the time, ' and I did not want to miss an impact flash".
The Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System, or MIDAS, telescopes that Madiedo used have high-sensitivity video cameras, which are flawless at capturing these split-second events. "In this way, these flashes are well contrasted against the darker background".
In a description of the eclipse written on the Virtual Telescope website before the event, Masi said the aim was to share with viewers "the stunning beauty of such a unique event".
This is not the first time an impact event has been recorded on the moon. This "blood moon" eclipse is the last for North America until 2022, so Space.com's Steve Spaleta has compiled a video supercut of the imagery from one of the webcast feeds of the eclipse.
In a video from Griffith Observatory, the slam, visible as a brief, bright flash, occurs on the lower left part of the Moon while the scientists discuss the Moon's colour.
