Scientists have identified a massive new impact crater on the Moon that was created by a powerful space-rock strike in 2024, marking the largest known lunar impact crater formed in recent times. The discovery was made using NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which photographed the newly formed depression on the Moon’s near side. The crater is approximately 728 feet (222 metres) wide and reaches a depth of up to 141 feet (43 metres). Researchers said its size makes it more than three times larger than the previous record-holder identified by the LRO. The impact is considered exceptionally rare. Scientists estimate that an event capable of producing a crater of this scale occurs only about once every 132 years, making the newly discovered site an unusually valuable opportunity to study how impacts reshape the lunar surface.