00:00Ooh, that quick flash! Did you see it? That's an object smashing into the moon at unbelievable speed!
00:07And what makes it so special is that we almost never catch lunar impacts in real time.
00:12We still don't know what exactly hit it, but scientists think it might be linked to the
00:17Phaethon asteroid, one of the strangest, most mysterious objects we know of.
00:22This impact happened on December 12, 2025. Andrew Marshall Lee, a final-year PhD student,
00:30was doing a late shift at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland.
00:35He was working with the Armagh Robotic Telescope, the newest and most advanced one there.
00:41Everything seemed normal at first. The moon was just sitting quietly on his screen.
00:46But then, around 3 in the morning, something unexpected happened. He saw a flash.
00:53That was the impact of a small object hitting the moon. The team is still trying to pin down
00:58its exact size, but they think it was no bigger than 2 inches across, which is about the size
01:04of a golf ball. And this object was moving insanely fast, at about 22 miles per second.
01:11To give you an idea, it's more than 100 times faster than a commercial jet.
01:16And yeah, I get it. When you watch the video, it's only a quick blink. It's not exactly thrilling.
01:22But the fact that Marshall Lee caught the exact moment it happened is actually super rare.
01:28And that's what makes this one such a big deal. It's the first video recording of a lunar impact
01:34flash in Ireland, and only the second one ever recorded from the United Kingdom.
01:39But just because it's rare to see that kind of event happen, that doesn't mean impacts on the moon
01:44are rare. It's actually the total opposite. We have a huge advantage on Earth, our atmosphere.
01:51It works like an invisible shield. It slows down incoming space debris. And it can even burn a lot
01:57of it up before it reaches the ground. But the moon doesn't have that kind of protection. So our
02:03poor natural satellite gets hit all the time by asteroids and meteorites. The good news is,
02:09most of what hits it is tiny, no bigger than little specks of dust. Now, if we talk about
02:15slightly bigger ones, we can look at some rough numbers. Scientists think around 100 space rocks
02:21the size of ping-pong balls hit the moon every single day. That adds up to roughly 36,000 in a year.
02:29So it's kind of strange that we don't capture these impacts more often. But the explanation is
02:35actually pretty simple. As we mentioned earlier, these space rocks are usually tiny. And if a ping-pong
02:41ball already looks small here on Earth, imagine something that size flying through the huge
02:47emptiness of space. We can say it's basically invisible. That's why we usually can't spot them
02:54with a telescope. They're too faint for that. But the moment one of these little objects hits the moon
02:59at a crazy high speed, everything changes. The energy from the impact turns into heat and
03:06light. It blasts and melts a bit of the surface. And for a split second, it makes a bright flash that
03:12we can see from Earth. And there's one more problem. The moon is huge! Impacts can happen anywhere on its
03:20surface. So it's almost impossible to keep a telescope pointed at the exact spot where the next big hit will
03:26happen. So most of the time, scientists don't catch lunar impacts with their own eyes. What usually
03:33happens is that they record the moon for hours, run all that footage through some software, and the
03:39program flags it if a flash shows up. But in Marshall Lee's case, he just happened to be looking at the
03:45screen at exactly the right moment. And he saw it happen live. Now you get how lucky he was, right?
03:53For now, the team has a pretty good idea of this space rock's size and speed. But it's still hard
03:59to say exactly what it was or where it came from. Their best guess is that it was linked to the
04:06gemitted meteor shower, which happens in December. And that actually makes sense. Lunar impacts are
04:12more likely to be spotted during big meteor showers, when the moon passes through streams of leftover
04:18space debris. So this could be one of those moments where the timing was just perfect.
04:24Now, the Geminid meteor shower is tied to one of the strangest space objects we know of,
04:30called Phaethon. It's labeled an asteroid, but it certainly doesn't behave like a normal one.
04:36You see, when Phaethon gets close to the sun, it brightens up and even forms a tail, just like a comet.
04:42But its tail isn't made of dusty material the way comet tails usually are. According to NASA,
04:49its tail is made of sodium gas. That's why scientists are not totally sure what to call it.
04:55So for now, Phaethon is officially listed as an asteroid, but a very weird one.
05:02Anyway, this strange object swings closer to the sun every December. And when the heat gets intense,
05:08Phaethon starts shedding tiny bits of rock. When those little pieces dive into Earth's atmosphere,
05:14they burn up and make bright streaks across the night sky. At the peak of the Geminid shower,
05:20people can spot up to 120 meters an hour under perfect conditions. The Geminids are usually bright
05:26and fast, and they often look a bit yellow. Of course, not all of those pieces hit Earth.
05:33Some miss us completely, and a few end up hitting the moon instead. And that's probably
05:38what Marshall Lee saw that night. Now, even though the impact wasn't huge,
05:43flashes like this are still really useful for science. Astronomers use them to estimate how
05:49often the moon gets hit by small space rocks. And once they know that, they can make better guesses
05:54about how many bigger asteroids are out there, the kind that could make it through Earth's atmosphere
05:59and cause real damage. And sightings like this matter for the future, too, especially for space travel.
06:06Space agencies want to build bases on the moon, and the goal is to make it a place where people can stay
06:13and work, not just visit. The moon is our closest neighbor in space, so it's a great place to learn
06:19new things and try out new tools. It's also the perfect practice ground for bigger missions later on,
06:25like sending humans to Mars. NASA, for example, is working on something called Artemis Base Camp.
06:33The plan is a small base near the moon's south pole, with places for astronauts to live and work,
06:38plus a rover that can travel farther from where they land. NASA also has plans for the Lunar Gateway,
06:45a small space station that would orbit the moon and help crews and supplies move between Earth
06:51and the moon's surface. There's also the International Lunar Research Station program.
06:56Its goal is to build a long-term research base on the moon, starting with robotic missions that land
07:02first and prepare the area before people arrive. The program focuses on using local resources,
07:09such as ice in the moon's soil, to produce water, oxygen, and other supplies needed for life.
07:15By staying on the moon for longer periods, scientists hope to learn how humans can live and work far
07:22from Earth and use this experience to prepare for future missions to Mars and beyond. So, keeping an
07:29eye on these impacts and learning more about them could actually help us build a safer future beyond
07:34Earth. The more we understand how often these hits happen, and how strong they are, the better we can
07:41plan and protect future lunar bases. In a way, that tiny flash on the moon isn't just a cool
07:47moment on a screen. It's a small warning, and a useful lesson for what comes next.
07:53That's it for today! So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share
07:58it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side!
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