Breaking News: The Moon Might Take One for the Team

Forget the doomsday asteroid headed for Earth—there’s a small but real chance this space rock might smack into the moon instead. That’s right, 2024 YR4, a 180-foot-wide chunk of cosmic chaos, is currently playing a high-stakes game of pinball in space, and while Earth is still on the board as a possible target, the moon is also in the crosshairs.

NASA recently upped the odds of this asteroid crashing into our planet on December 22, 2032, from a mildly concerning 1.2% to a slightly more eyebrow-raising 2.3%. But hold onto your telescopes—there’s also a 0.3% chance that the moon, our innocent, unsuspecting lunar companion, could get walloped instead.

Now, before anyone starts panicking (or celebrating, depending on how they feel about the moon), let's put this in perspective. If YR4 does decide to crash the moon’s party, it would unleash the equivalent of 340 Hiroshima bombs' worth of energy. That’s a whole lot of fireworks, but don't worry—it won’t send the moon careening into space or anything. It might just leave a fresh crater, around 1.2 miles wide, which is basically a tiny scratch compared to the moon’s massive South Pole-Aitken basin (a cool 1,500 miles across, for reference).

David Rankin, an asteroid expert from the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey, chimed in to reassure us that even if debris gets flung toward Earth, it’s unlikely to be much of a problem. Most of it would burn up in our atmosphere, so worst case, we might get a cool meteor shower. Best case? A front-row seat to the biggest lunar impact in modern history.

Gareth Collins, a planetary scientist from Imperial College London, also confirmed that Earth would be fine—as in, no giant tidal waves, no apocalyptic chaos. Just a really dramatic light show for space nerds everywhere.

So, to summarize: Earth? Still in the running for a bad day in 2032. The moon? Might be taking one for the team. Either way, we get an incredible cosmic spectacle.

Grab your popcorn, folks—this could be a front-row seat to some top-tier space drama.