# How would a major meteor impact on the Moon affect the Earth?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 22, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452 "2015-10-22T13:38:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452/1 "2015-10-22T13:38:13Z")
Imagine we observe the impact of a meteor on the moon. What would be the effect on the Earth of a gigatonne impact? How about a teratonne impact?
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452/2 "2015-10-22T14:18:35Z")
I’d imagine the main issue for the Earth would be whatever fragments of asteroid and moon would come raining down on the Earth. There’s no real way to know how big or small those might be- it would depend on the angle of impact, where the asteroid hit relative to the Earth, and what the asteroid was made of.
The effects could be anything from a terrific light show from a whole lot of medium-sized meteors, all the way to thousands of Winnebago-sized meteorites (or bigger!) hitting the earth in a short time frame.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452/3 "2015-10-22T14:22:05Z")
If fragments were to hit Earth, they would also probably be taking out our satellites as well.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452/4 "2015-10-22T14:30:09Z")
How much would those impacts affect the orbit of the Moon?
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452/5 "2015-10-22T14:38:14Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#):
>
> If fragments were to hit Earth, they would also probably be taking out our satellites as well.
Well, something on the order of 100,000 meteor fragments currently reach low Earth atmosphere each year, without taking out many satellites.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452/6 "2015-10-22T21:35:20Z")
Here’s an almost identical GQ thread from last month: [Asteroid hits moon, debris hits Earth ? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=769835)
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-major-meteor-impact-on-the-moon-affect-the-earth/735452/7 "2015-10-22T22:42:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> How much would those impacts affect the orbit of the Moon?
Damn little. The Moon’s orbit is stable, now, after billions of years of such impacts.