NASA Hosts Sept. 19 Moon Night at Goddard as Artemis II Fuels Lunar Push

Q: What massive 2024 lunar discovery will NASA reveal to the public during its upcoming global Moon celebration?

The major 2024 lunar discovery tied to NASA’s upcoming Moon celebration is McGetchin crater, a newly formed impact crater that NASA says is the largest newly formed crater ever identified in the solar system. Discovered through images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the crater formed on the Moon’s eastern edge sometime between April 11 and May 22, 2024, when an asteroid or comet fragment roughly the size of a three- to six-story building struck the surface. The impact carved a crater about 728 feet wide and 141 feet deep, making it a rare, roughly once-in-a-century lunar event. Scientists also found that the impact altered a much larger area than the crater itself. Data from LRO’s Diviner instrument revealed a surrounding “cold spot” about 4 miles wide that is around 16 degrees Fahrenheit cooler at night than nearby terrain. Researchers say the collision loosened the lunar regolith, making it less able to retain heat. NASA’s International Observe the Moon Night event at Goddard is primarily a public outreach celebration of lunar science, Artemis, and LRO rather than a formal unveiling of the crater. But this McGetchin discovery is the standout 2024 lunar finding likely to draw attention as NASA highlights current Moon research during the global celebration.

Q: Why is NASA urging the world to look up just as scientists uncover the solar system's largest newly formed crater?

NASA is urging people to look up because the Moon is no longer just a familiar night-sky object; it is an active scientific target and a near-term destination for human exploration. International Observe the Moon Night is meant to connect the public to that moment, as NASA highlights Artemis missions and ongoing lunar research. The timing is especially notable because scientists using NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently identified McGetchin, a crater about 728 feet wide formed in 2024 on the Moon’s eastern edge. NASA says it is the largest newly formed crater yet found in the solar system. The discovery shows the Moon is still changing in real time, not a static world, and that fresh impacts can disturb the surface over a much wider area, including a surrounding “cold spot” roughly 4 miles across. That matters scientifically and practically. Fresh craters give researchers a chance to study how impacts shape lunar regolith, how the surface evolves, and what hazards future astronauts and hardware may face. It also reinforces why NASA continues to invest in lunar missions such as LRO and Artemis. So the public outreach and the crater discovery point to the same message: the Moon is both accessible and newly relevant. NASA wants people to observe it not only for inspiration, but because major science is happening there now, just as the agency prepares for deeper human exploration.

3 articles · Updated · NASA · Sep 15

NASA will open a free International Observe the Moon Night event at Goddard’s Greenbelt visitor center on Sept. 19 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. EDT, with telescopes, hands-on activities and an Apollo 14 Moon rock display.
The celebration is designed to build on renewed public interest in lunar exploration after Artemis II sent four humans around the Moon in April, the first such flight in more than 50 years.
Two featured talks anchor the evening: NASA Headquarters scientist Amanda Nahm at 6:30 p.m. on lunar science and Artemis II, and Goddard visualizer Ernie Wright at 7:30 p.m. on Moon data and imagery.
Goddard will also use the event to showcase work tied to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and other research as NASA prepares for future deep-space missions to the Moon and beyond.
People unable to travel to Maryland can still join through virtual or local events worldwide; the annual program has run since 2010.