"WHAT IF "2016 HO3" Were To Collide With The Moon?" Topic

How bad would the resulting debris fallout be for Earth?

By the way …

"NASA says it's larger than 120 feet (36.5 metres) across but no more than 300 feet (91 metres) wide, has likely orbited our world for about a century", yet, believe it or not, they've only just discovered it a year or two ago. :)

So … would the impact of something that size hitting the Moon create enough debris to pose a serious threat to Earth?

Or would astronomers even notice the actual impact when it happened?

About the small one that scientist noticed had hit the Moon March 17, 2013:
"The crater itself is small, measuring 18.8 metres (61.7 feet) in diameter, but its influence large; debris excavated by the sudden release of energy flew for hundreds of metres. More than 200 related surficial changes up to 30 kilometres (19 miles) away were noted."
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Dan
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Here's the orbit in motion:

By the way, this discussion is a WHAT IF that asteroid (or perhaps another like it) were to hit our Moon, not whether or not it could*.

How much debris would something that size hitting the Moon produce? And how dangerous would that debris be to humanity?

Thanks,

Dan
* "It never comes closer than 9 million miles (14.5 million kilometers) to our planet"
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It might depend on where and the angle of its impact. The debris would have to have enough energy to escape the moons admitted weak gravitational field to pose a threat. I think any escaping debris would provide an impressive meteor shower.

True. I would think that if it came straight toward the Earth when it collided with the Moon at a low angle, the ejecta would be headed straight for us.

Dan

Well, no matter what angle, the resulting debris would not be more, or even as big, as the meteor itself. So the better question is what impact would occur if that meteor itself hit the earth?

Well, it was 200-300 feet in size, that would be similar to the 1908 air burst over Tunguska, Siberia, I think.

But if it was solid, the crater could end up being much bigger than Meteor (Barringer) Crater, Arizona:

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Dan

it was 200-300 feet in size

Yeah, but HO is 1:87, so it's worst case a metre and a half in world scale, right?

So … would the impact of something that size hitting the Moon create enough debris to pose a serious threat to Earth?

OK … enough of that. Debris? Not likely. It is big enough to shift the orbit of the Moon a smidge (technical term), which could have some other effects.

Major Earth volcanos in the 21st cent have been correlated to measured to unexpected, abrupt changes in the precession of our planet and it is presumed micro-smidge changes in our orbit.

But if it was solid, the crater could end up being much bigger than Meteor (Barringer) Crater, Arizona:

Could, but, in general, the Moon is about 40% less dense than the Big Blue Marble, so the impact would have cushier (technical term) effects.

the resulting debris would not be more, or even as big, as the meteor itself.

Cncur. Most likely lots of little bits to be burnt up and never detected. A bit of moderate sized stuff with a visually spectacular entry. And very few larger bits (total mass much less than the original rock.

Most likely a lot of people would be spooked, which would be accelerated by the light show and a few clusters of people where the big bits hit would have a very bad day indeed.

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More importantly, what if it is a giant space insect egg sac?

Major Earth volcanos in the 21st cent have been correlated to measured to unexpected, abrupt changes in the precession of our planet and it is presumed micro-smidge changes in our orbit.

That is very cool. Kind of like a one jet version of Hero's Aeolipile, but on a planetary level.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile

More importantly, what if it is a giant space insect egg sac?

I've seen enough movies to know would be bad.