Are meteorites still hitting the moon, and if so are there any new craters.?

Answer 1

The earth and moon are continually being hit by objects from space. Most however are smaller than a golf ball. While the majority of them are burned up in the earths atmosphere (creating meteors or shooting starts) those that hit the moon generally hit the "back side" of the moon. The way the moon and earth rotate allow only one side to be seen by us on earth. Because there isn't any meteorites coming from earth, we protect the side we see. The opposite side on the other hand is an open target. Unlike the earth the moon's atmosphere does not cause them to burn up. This leaves the otherside of the moon pock marked and full of craters. However because the "space debris" is so small it doesn't have much of an impact.

Answer 2

In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin placed solar powered instruments on the surface of the moon. Seismic readings since then indicate that small moon quakes are common, and that meteorites still hit the moon from time to time. Hitting the moon’s surface causes it to ring like a bell. We now know that every impact causes the moon to shudder. Since the moon’s core is solid, the entire moon rings for hours, like an enormous gong when hit.

moon like earth gets bombarded by space debris everyday. in fact during the Leonid meteor shower on nov 18 1999, 35% of the moon cresent was in sunlight while the rest of the moon facing earth was dark,l flashes of light could be seen when reasonable size meteorites hit the surface. because the moon atmosophere is pratical non-existance the surface is regularly getting cratered.

i found an update on the leonid meteor shower nov 22 1999, with video footage that could be the first a meteorite on video crashing on the moon. check the site below

Answer 3

Yes they are - but not nearly to the extent that they used to.

The reason for this is that much of the 'loose' material left after the formation of the solar system has been 'hoovered up' -so to speak-by the various planetary bodies, and there aren't so many lumps of rock wandering about now as there used to be.
Jupiter keeps a lot of debris (asteriods) trapped in the Asteriod Belt.
Mind you, having said that, there are still plenty around, wandering in various orbits, and the moon's craters have been formed over many millions of years, so major impacts will - in cosmic terms - be pretty few and far between.
There will be new ones at times, though - as long as there are meteors to create them.

Answer 4

yes earth and the moon are hit by tons of small rocks which would leave craters on the moon (although pretty small). check out NASA's site for a video of an impact from a couple of months ago.

Answer 5

Meteors are constently hitting Earth and the Moon. I saw one hit the Moon on nasa.gov last month. Check out their site for new craters.

Answer 6

A lot of heat and energy which result from the impact and also create a crater. Energy is never formed or destroyed, only transformed.

Answer 7

Well I saw my 1st shooting star last week so I tend to think yes, I've not heard of any new craters though.

Answer 8

Do you mean 'as we speak'?

In general terms, yes, in the same way they're still hitting earth - the difference is they don't get burned up on the way there so they tend to do a bit more damage.

Answer 9

i dont think any have hit the moon for some time now otherwise we would have heard it in the news by now, but i will keep my eyes open at the night sky to try and see if i can see any with my telescope.

Answer 10

Yes and yes.