The Night the Moon Could Light Up the Sky
The Night the Moon Could Light Up the Sky A Quiet Rock With Loud Possibilities Every so often, space tosses us a strange scenario that sits right on the edge between danger and discovery. The year 2032 might bring one of those moments. Not because Earth itself is in direct trouble, but because the Moon could take a hit from a modest sized asteroid. Modest, that is, by cosmic standards. Roughly sixty meters across, the object known as Asteroid 2024 YR4 is large enough to matter and small enough to sneak into uncomfortable probabilities. Right now, the odds of impact hover around four percent. That number does not keep planetary defense experts awake every night, but it is far from ignorable. If this rock ends up intersecting the Moon on December 22nd, 2032, it will not just be a distant flash for astronomers to shrug at. The consequences ripple outward, physically and scientifically, all the way to Earth. What Makes This Asteroid Different The Moon has been hit countless times. Its surf...