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jbz
jbz
@jbz@indieweb.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

🌙 Asteroid 2024 YR4 Has a 4% Chance of Hitting the Moon. Here’s Why That’s a Scientific Goldmine.

「 On December 22nd, 2032, Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 4% chance of actually striking the Moon. If it does, it will release enough energy to be the equivalent of smacking our nearest neighbor with a medium-sized thermonuclear weapon. It would be 6 orders of magnitude more powerful than the last major impact on the Moon, which happened back in 2013 and was caused by a much smaller meteoroid 」

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Khleedril
Khleedril
@khleedril@cyberplace.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

@jbz This is going to be a year-2000-date-problem again: we'll hold our breath for six years, and then it will... miss.

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jbz
jbz
@jbz@indieweb.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 weeks ago

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/asteroid-2024-yr4-has-a-4-chance-of-hitting-the-moon-heres-why-thats-a-scientific-goldmine

#science #astronomy #moon

Universe Today

Asteroid 2024 YR4 Has a 4% Chance of Hitting the Moon. Here’s Why That’s a Scientific Goldmine.

There’s a bright side to every situation. In 2032, the Moon itself might have a particularly bright side if it is blasted by a 60-meter-wide asteroid. The chances of such an event are still relatively small (only around 4%), but non-negligible. And scientists are starting to prepare both for the bad (massive risks to satellites and huge meteors raining down on a large portion of the planet) and the good (a once in a lifetime chance to study the geology, seismology, and chemical makeup of our nearest neighbor). A new paper from Yifan He of Tsinghua University and co-authors, released in pre-print form on arXiv, looks at the bright side of all of the potential interesting science we can do if a collision does, indeed, happen.
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