Saw something hit the moon last night

[Paul9ball]

Last night I was observing the moon and at approximately 22:15 saw something flying across the sky and hit the moon causing a cloud of dust. Anyone else see this ?

[spaceboy]

Hmmm ..... You must have a real big scope to see a cloud of dust on the moon.

[Paul9ball]

Not really, but it was a clear enough to see. I'm no expert but definitely saw something briefly fly across and then the cloud of dust .

[gfletcher]

Hmmmmmm

[gfletcher]

What scope and magnification were you using?

[Phil Fargaze]

Assuming it was an impact from a meteorite, I would expect you to see a flash of light when it hit. Plus if it was large enough for you to see a cloud of dust it would have been a large impact, likely causing a large flash of light. Did you see a flash of light at the point if impact?

[Phil Fargaze]

Actually, I remembered something that happened to me whilst I was observing Comet Garradd through binoculars on 2011 August 8. The following is taken directly from my log book.

"Just as I found the comet through the bins a meteor passed through the f.o.v. which was a stunning sight. It was hard to tell if it would have been visible with the naked eye. It was slow, white with a 3 degree path length and a slight sparkle as it ended! A real celestial firework!"

Maybe you saw something similar going in front of the moon.

[RikM]

Aeroplane flying through the field of view leaving a brief vapour trail? I had that happen observing the sun in white light once. It was spooky.

[Paul9ball]

Thanks for all the comments, as im pretty new to this. From what has been said I guess it might have been the plane . Looked like something struck the moon but as you say, possibly the trail from the plane could look like that. Assume from what you say that if it had to be such a big impact to see the dust cloud, someone else would have seen it or we would have heard about it.

[iwatkins]

Actually saw this twice last night and once again tonight and I've seen it before.

I see satellites etc. passing the moon many times, but occasionally coincides with a few seeing waves passing up (which could be any direction depending on setup) the terminator/limb edge.

Your brain simply makes the connection that something was moving plus disturbance = impact. Perfectly natural actually.

Cheers

Ian

[spaceboy]

There is so much flying around us it will not be the last time you see some thing like this. http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=147499

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Maybe was meteor they allways hitting moon i'm sure i seen quick flash light from some crater once last year when was imaging moon typical didnt capture it didnt hit record.

then again maybe crashed ufo they allways talk on crashed ufo's on moon 'classic'