Experts warn that lunar debris could be catapulted toward Earth following the impact.
The 60-meter-long asteroid 2024 YR4 may collide with the Moon on December 22, 2032, triggering an unprecedented meteor shower over Earth, according to ScienceAlert. The report cites a preprint study on arXiv by a team of scientists from Tsinghua University, stating that the probability of this catastrophic event is approximately 4%. Such an impact would release energy comparable to the explosion of a medium-yield thermonuclear weapon. On the lunar surface, it would create a crater approximately one kilometer wide and 150 to 260 meters deep. The strike would also cause a lunar quake of magnitude 5.0, the strongest ever recorded.
Earth at risk following the terrifying collision
In this scenario, following the collision, lunar debris would be ejected toward Earth. At the peak of this activity, up to 20 million meteors per hour are expected, many of which will be visible to the naked eye. Experts predict that the largest fragments, weighing up to 400 kilograms, will survive atmospheric entry and reach the planet's surface. The projected impact zone covers South America, North Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. The collision of debris with satellites could trigger the so-called Kessler syndrome, a chain reaction of destruction for orbital infrastructure. Such an event would render near-Earth space unsuitable for launches for many years. It was previously reported that a German man was offered a massive sum for a meteorite that fell in his garden, with the object's value estimated at 200,000 euros.
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