The remnants of a missile collided with the moon and caused a crater more than ten meters high

remnants of a cylindrical missile Wandering for years across the universe today crashed against the “invisible face” of the moon At a speed of more than 9,000 kilometers per hour and “probably caused the crater Its diameter ranges from 10 to 20 meters,” according to astronomers.

The collision occurred at 12:25 GMT The hidden face of the moonAccording to astronomer Bill Gray, who was the first to discover the looming collision.

“We have a lot of data on this object,” Gray told AFP, estimating that it hit the area the moon “This morning”.

The identification of the rocket has been under debate because no one officially deals with the recording and tracking of space debris in deep space.

Gray, the creator of the software used by NASA-funded observational programs, watches them so as not to mistake them for asteroids, so he doesn’t waste time studying them in vain.

At first, the remains were thought to be from a SpaceX rocket but eventually it was inferred to be a Chinese ship, specifically a stage of the Long March rocket, which launched in 2014 on a mission called Chang’e 5-T1. , as part of the country’s lunar exploration programme.

Beijing denied this and asserted that the theater had “safely entered the Earth’s atmosphere” and “completely burned”.

But according to Gray, China He confused two missions with similar names and was actually talking about launching a missile much later.

In any case, the crater can only be seen by the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) probe. a pot or Indian Chandrayaan-2, both of which orbit around this star.

The US space agency confirmed it wanted to find the hole, but warned that the process could take “weeks”.

It’s not unusual for rocket stages to be left in the universe, but it’s the first time an unintended collision with the moon has been identified.

In the past, rocket stages were launched at the star for scientific purposes.