On March 17, 2013 a meteor with the explosive power of TEN cruise missiles has struck the Moon - sparking a massive explosion visible with the naked eye.
And terrifyingly the 56,000 mph collision - captured by NASA scientists highlighting the catastrophic danger planet earth faces from similar meteors - was caused by a space rock weighing no more than 40 kilos.
Despite the meteor's tiny proportions - about the size of a small boulder and the weight of an average 10-year-old boy - the impact damage was collosal and the explosion shone with the brightness of a magnitude 4 star.
A spokesman for respected science website Science.com said: ''For the past eight years NASA has been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteors. They've just seen the biggest explosion in the history of the programme. It exploded in a flash 10 times as bright as anything we've seen before. Anyone looking at the Moon at the moment of impact could have seen the explosion - no telescope required.''
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