On September 11, 2013 a meteor about the size a Smart Car and weighing about 400 kg, travelling at 38,000 mph vaporized in a brilliant flash as it hit the Moon. This is the longest and brightest confirmed impact flash ever observed on the Moon. The meteor exploded with the equivalent of about 15 tons of TNT and it’s estimated that the resulting crater could be about 40 meters in diameter.

Prof. José M. Madiedo from the University of Huelva in Spain was operating two telescopes that are part of the Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System (MIDAS) which monitors the moon’s surface for these events. At 20:07 GMT on September 11, 2013 he witnessed an unusually long and bright flash in Mare Nubium. The event lasted for about 8 seconds as the bright flash slowly faded. Watch the video above for complete details on the MIDAS project and see the actual video of the impact.