CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Car-Sized Meteorite Crashes Into Moon And Creates The Brightest Lunar Explosion Ever Seen

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Royal Astronomical Society

An image of the flash resulting from the impact of a large meteorite on the moon's surface on Sept. 11, 2013.

On Sept. 11, 2013, Spanish telescopes recorded a massive meteorite crashing into the moon, creating the longest and brightest lunar flash ever seen, researchers reported Sunday in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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The energy released by the impact is comparable to a little over 15 tons of TNT (three times higher than the largest previous confirmed impact) and the bright flash that resulted lasted more than 8 seconds, according to the study. The explosion was so bright that it would have been visible to people on Earth.

"At that moment I realized that I had seen a very rare and extraordinary event," Jose Madiedo of University of Huelva, said in a statement.

Researchers believe the space rock weighed roughly 880 pounds - comparable to the mass of a small car - and was traveling at a blistering speed of 38,000 miles per hour when it smashed into the moon. Last March NASA caught the previous record-holding moon explosion, but that meteor only weighed 88 pounds.

Below is video footage from the record-breaking blast. The bright white flash shows the impact.

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