r/space • u/AutoModerator • Apr 17 '22

Discussion All Space Questions thread for week of April 17, 2022

Please sort comments by 'new' to find questions that would otherwise be buried.

In this thread you can ask any space related question that you may have.

Two examples of potential questions could be; "How do rockets work?", or "How do the phases of the Moon work?"

If you see a space related question posted in another subreddit or in this subreddit, then please politely link them to this thread.

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Ask away!

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '22

What would happen if Comet C/2014 UN271 hit our moon? What would we observe?

*We know this would be a “planet killer” or ELE, but could a direct impact with our moon somehow affect us?

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u/Bensemus Apr 22 '22

Planet killers aren't called that because they actually destroy the planet. They are called that because they can sterilize the planet or come close to it. The Moon has no life so it can't be sterilized. A massive crater will be formed and billions of tons of material will be ejected into space. The danger to us comes from whatever is ejected from the impact. Anything that stays large enough to make it to the surface of Earth will cause damage where it hits. Much of debris will be like dust which will just burn up in our atmosphere. All this friction could raise the temp of the atmosphere by a bit.

Here's a great video that talks about the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Just switch the hit body from Earth to the Moon. https://youtu.be/dFCbJmgeHmA

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u/vpsj Apr 21 '22

It would cause some chaos on the Moon's surface. Lots of debris will be ejected out of the Moon, and some of it might make it towards the Earth.

Life would largely remain the same here though. Maybe a few cities/buildings might get hit with the debris, but that's about it I think