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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 31297, member: 636"] A big space rock might crash into the Moon, say space experts. The James Webb Space Telescope checked this rock last month and found it has almost a four percent chance of hitting our Moon. This asteroid scared people back in February when scientists thought it could hit Earth. Back then, they gave it a 3.1 percent chance of smashing our planet - the highest risk ever measured for any space rock. After looking further, they ruled out Earth as a target, but the Moon faces danger on December 22, 2032. The rock keeps looking more likely to strike the Moon as scientists watch it closer. NASA said Thursday there remains a 96.2 percent chance the asteroid will miss the Moon completely. Richard Moissl from the European Space Agency agrees with these numbers. The Webb telescope also helped measure how big this space rock really is. It stands between 53 and 67 meters tall, about as high as a 15-floor building, which passes the size limit that makes space guards pay attention. If this rock still threatened Earth, teams would already start planning how to push it away. We have many ideas about fighting off space rocks, like nuclear bombs and laser beams. Only one method has ever been tested—NASA smashed a spacecraft into a harmless asteroid in 2022 and changed its direction. Many scientists hope this rock will hit the Moon because they can learn from watching it happen. The crash would teach us things that help protect Earth later, says Moissl. Mark Burchell, who studies space at the University of Kent, called a Moon hit "a great experiment" and said people could see it through telescopes from Earth. Maybe even binoculars would show the crash. This asteroid holds the record as the smallest object ever studied by the Webb telescope. The heat measurements from Webb show this rock acts differently than bigger asteroids. Scientists think it spins fast and lacks small sand grains on its surface, which happens more with tiny asteroids the size of your fist. Space watchers will learn more when Webb looks at the asteroid again next month. The fact that experts can track such small objects shows how much better our sky-watching systems have become. Only eight years ago, we might not have spotted this rock at all. The possible Moon crash gives scientists a rare chance to see what happens when something hits our closest space neighbor. Such events help test our ideas about protecting planets from space dangers without any risk to people on Earth. [/QUOTE]

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