The Moon is covered in craters, and it’s so hard to count them all, as you well know! It probably doesn’t help that there are new craters being formed all the time, as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s constant monitoring reminds us.

Another new crater was found by comparing images from before a “flash” event detected on the Moon in September of 2013 and images from this past spring. An 8-second long flash was detected by MIDAS (Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System), a system of five telescopes on Spain that constantly monitor the Moon. The impact was estimated to leave behind a crater between 46 and 56 meters in diameter, so LRO scientists searched the general area for a corresponding recent crater. Finally, it was detected, and what a difference this new crater makes to the immediate landscape!

Keep that in mind while you are marking your craters and trying to distinguish different features that overlap in MoonMappers!