Lunar Meteoroid Impacts and How to Observe Them

Book excerpt: The face of the Moon we see today has been substantially etched by the effects of meteor impacts. Craters on the Moon are the result of ancient impacts with large meteorites - or small asteroid-like bodies - which produced both primary craters (where the meteorites hit) and secondary craters (where material hurled high above the surface crashed back down). Even some of the vast lunar "seas" - actually basalt plains from ancient volcanic eruptions - may have been the result of impacts that triggered lava outflows. The era of major impacts on the Moon may have passed, but lunar meteorites may well be the cause of what are known as Lunar Transient Phonomena ("LTP" or sometimes "TLP") flashes and puffs of gas or vaporized rock or dust that are observed on the Moon's surface. This book looks at the way the Moon has been shaped by meteorites, proposes lunar meteorites as the most likely cause of most LTPs and describes in practical detail how amateur astronomers can observe impacts on the Moon, past and current.