Rare lunar meteor shower possible in 2032 VIDEO

A rare and spectacular lunar meteor shower could pelt Earth for days if asteroid 2024 YR4 were to actually impact the Moon on December 22, 2032, according to simulations conducted by astronomers at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, who have submitted their study for publication in the journals of the American Astronomical Society. The team analyzed what might happen if the 60-meter-diameter space rock discovered in January were to crash into the lunar surface in seven years. In their paper, they report that the impact would release an energy equivalent to 6.5 megatons, creating a one-kilometer-wide crater and ejecting up to 100 million kilograms of lunar debris. "Up to 10 percent of the ejected lunar debris could reach Earth within a few days," says the study's lead author, Paul Wiegert. "The resulting meteor shower could be spectacular, with a meteor frequency orders of magnitude higher than the normal background frequency." The upper atmosphere would be swathed in lunar material arriving at relatively low speeds, about 11 kilometers per second (less than that of classic meteors like the Perseids, which strike Earth at 59 kilometers per second). Consequently, lunar meteors would appear slower, fainter, and longer-lasting, but they would be numerous and visible to the naked eye. The probability of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting the Moon is currently estimated at around 4%. These calculations will be updated in 2028, when the asteroid emerges from the Sun's glare and becomes observable again. If the target is confirmed, the asteroid could cause the largest lunar impact in the last 5,000 years.