Consequences for Earth of the possible impact of asteroid 2024 YR4...

Consequences for Earth of the possible impact of asteroid 2024 YR4 with the moon.

That the asteroid 2024 YR4 hits the Moon is good because we are free from a direct impact, and in the past it would not have had any more consequences unless it occurred on the visible side of the moon because it would offer a surprising spectacle, but that was in the past, right now things have changed.

We are at a point where our technological civilization depends on space satellite networks, so the result of an asteroid impact on the Moon can be bad, very bad, it can create the mother of all meteor showers, on June 12, 2025 it was published under the title "The potential danger for satellites due to the ejection of matter expelled from a lunar impact in 2032 by the asteroid 2024 YR4."

The main author is Paul Wiegert from the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, the impact if it occurs would be on the visible side of the moon, the image below shows the risk zone, so it would be a spectacle seen from Earth.

Souce

An impact by asteroid 2024 YR4 would cause a visible glow. According to Canadian researchers, the asteroid would create a crater of approximately 1 km in diameter at least. The explosion would be equivalent to about 65 kilotons of TNT. That is about 4.3 times the power of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II and here the problems begin, because the researchers calculated that the impact would send at least 100,000 tons of space into space. debris, most of it dust and small remains.

The first problem would be that in the year 2032 there could be humans on the Moon, since before that date China plans to take its astronauts and begin to create a permanent base on our natural satellite, the United States at the moment unless plans change again, it seems that it is going to settle for a single manned mission to the surface of the Moon which would be the Artemis 3 and in that year 2032 the United States would be rather busy reaching or may have already reached Mars.

The problem with asteroid impacts on the moon is that lunar gravity is six times lower than Earth's and there is also no atmosphere, so any fragment that is launched from an impact can travel hundreds of kilometers without anything stopping it or even end up in lunar orbit to fall anywhere on the surface of the moon, so in those days it would be best to suspend any lunar mission with human presence.

Souce

The other problem is that, of the 100,000 tons of debris, although most of it would fall back to the Moon, a significant portion would reach Earth. Researchers at the University of Canada estimate that at least 10% of all that material could reach Earth's orbit, which is about 10,000 tons of debris, roughly the weight of the Eiffel Tower. Almost all of it would be dust particles and debris no larger than a coin, although there may be some larger fragments, rocks the size of a suitcase or a wardrobe.

When this material enters the Earth's atmosphere, it would disintegrate, creating a great meteor shower, the mother of all meteor showers. It would also be an impressive spectacle, but in principle, there would be no risk to those of us living on the Earth's surface. However, things would be different for humans in space stations and for all satellites orbiting the Earth.

It is almost a given that spacecraft in Earth's orbit will be hit by a micrometeorite, as experts have more or less calculated. Most of these are tiny pieces of space debris, because large pieces of space debris are usually kept under control, and natural micrometeorites tend to impact or are more frequent when Earth crosses a trail of debris left behind by a comet, which we see as a meteor shower. However, the impact of this asteroid with the moon will create a flow of material that would be up to 1,000 times greater than that of a typical meteor shower.

It would increase the risk of impacts by 1000, which is why Canadian researchers are very concerned and we still have one last disturbing point in this story, currently there is zero risk of impact with the Earth, at the moment there is a 4.3% risk of impact with the Moon, but what if it does not impact the Moon but the asteroid passes close enough to the Moon for its trajectory to change. In that case, we could be lucky and the asteroid would be launched into an orbit around the sun that moves away from us forever. We could not be so lucky and that it enters a trajectory that leads it to impact with the Moon or the Earth and this time with a degree of certainty of 100%.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 is turning out to be a very worrying nuisance, we will be attentive to what happens with it.

Study Source

The images without reference were created with AI

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #science, #planet, #politics, #rights #crypto, #traveling and discovering secrets and beauties of the #universe, feel free to Follow me as these are the topics I write about the most. Have a wonderful day and stay on this great platform :) :)

! The truth will set us free and science is the one that is closest to the truth!

Hello friends of the community, if you want to hunt monsters and earn Steem, try the new game HARRY-RAID you just have to enter the game, press PLAY, and show your cards, to hurt monsters.