http://www.theguardi...impact-recorded
The 400kg (63st) meteorite, travelling at 61,000 km/h (40,000 mph), punched a fresh crater on the moon's surface some 40 metres wide in what is thought to be the largest lunar impact ever recorded.
The rock, which was about a metre in diameter, ploughed into an ancient lava-filled basin called the Mare Nubium, producing a flash almost as intense as the Pole Star that took more than eight seconds to fade.
Unlike Earth, the moon has no atmosphere to protect it from incoming meteorites, so the surface is pocked with craters. The rock would have swiftly burned up in the Earth's atmosphere long before it reached the ground.