An stargazer base in Japan has captured the mo when an obscure object – conceive to be a meteoroid , and possibly one of the Geminids – struck part of the Moon .

The Geminids – first observe light up our skies annually in themid-1800s – are an unusual meteor shower , coming from an asteroid that exhibit characteristics of a comet .

" The dust causing the Geminids originated from an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon . After astronomers reveal Phaethon in 1983 , they realized the asteroid ’s orbit matched that of the Geminid meteors . This channelise to Phaethon as the source of the annual meteor shower . Even though most meteor showers originate from comet , Phaethon was classified as a good Earth asteroid and not a comet , " Serena Whitfield explain in a recentNASA web log .

" On occasion this categorisation has been challenged , as Phaethon ’s orbit is interchangeable to that of a comet and NASA ’s STEREO spacecraft in 2009 and 2012 detected a weak tail and rapid brightening around the asteroid ’s closest approach to the Sun . As a consequence , some uranologist refer to Phaethon as a ‘ stone - comet ’ , though the condition ‘ active asteroid ’ may be right , as standardized objects have been discovered in the independent asteroid belt ammunition between Mars and Jupiter . "

This annual shower is alive from December 4 to 20 in 2024 , with this year ’s peak occurring fromDecember 13 to 14 .

While there is some suggestion that groups of meteors could harbor larger , potentially wild objective , for the turgid part meteors simply cauterize up in our atmospheric state if they are unlucky enough to fall into it . However , as captured by Daichi Fujii , astronomer and curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum in Japan , some of them may alternatively clash with our moon .

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" There was another lunar impact split second tonight . I filmed it at 360fps from my home at 22:34:35 on December 8 , 2024 ( slow playback ) and was capable to confirm it with multiple telescopes , " Fujiiexplained on X , according to the version . " Bright shooting star and fireballs have been appearing every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , but lunar wallop flashes have also been captured one after another . "

Fujii captured other potential shooting star hitting the Moon on old dark .

While the Geminids seem a likely cause of the wallop , that ’s not altogether decipherable .

" Given the position of the radiant , there is a possibility that these lunar impact flashes are associated with the Geminid shooting star exhibitor , " Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society toldEarthSky . " However , since sporadic shooting star still outnumber Geminids in earth - based meteor watching , they may be sporadic meteors . "

Whatever the object was , we ’re certain we can all agree it was pretty . Further instance , as well as views of meteors come to the Earth ’s atmosphere , are available onFujii ’s X page .