Scientists think an old rocket just hit the Moon going 5,800 mph
According to orbital calculations, a rocket hurtling through space for years crashed into the Moon on Friday, but the strike wasn’t directly observed, and there might be a wait for photographic evidence.
The impact would have taken place at 7:25 am Eastern Time (1225 GMT), on the far side of the Moon, said the astronomer Bill Gray, who was the first to predict the collision.
Racing through the cosmos at around 5,800 mph (9,300 kph), the roughly four ton object should make a crater “10 or 20 meters across,” Gray told AFP.
Its speed, trajectory, and time of impact were calculated using Earth-based telescope observations.
“We had lots (and lots) of tracking data for the object, and there is nothing acting on it except the forces of gravity and sunlight,” he said, with the latter pushing the cylinder gently away from the Sun.
“Unless the object was removed by an occult hand, it hit the Moon this morning.”
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