The interest in the solar eclipse starts a person wondering about what is up in the sky and how did it get there and one question that I would have how come all the asteroid and meter impacts on the moon were direct hits. This is a question I have never seen a person ask all the impacts are round that would mean a direct hit. We know from strikes on earth most come in at an angle as you can see them streaking through the sky. The meteorites that hit Russia left a long trench with the meteorite at the end of it but I do not see that on any photos of the moon. I am always curious about everything and some seem to have no answer.
That is an interesting question, and what makes it even more interesting is that we can see all of the direct hit impacts from here on earth; so how did they miss us when they hit the moon ? We have had meteorite impacts, but the earth certainly doesn't look like the moon, with all of its craters, and the earth is much larger, so you would think that any meteorites that came close past us and hit the moon would have also caused a lot more craters here on the earth.
The earth has lots of craters, I think most fill with water and become lakes etc...no? We won't look like the moon when hit because the earth has water, grass etc. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_impact_craters_on_Earth
This is definitely true, Chrissy, and I have read that the Gulf of Mexico and also Hudson Bay were created by craters. However, that still does not explain how a meteor can come from directly behind earth to create an impact like @Martin Alonzo was talking about. It would have to come in from a sideways angle to miss earth and still impact the moon. Since the same side of the moon always faces earth, it could not have happened when the moon was facing away from us, either.
I'm not understanding what the issue is? Are you saying that an asteroid has to go through the earth to hit the moon??? http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/01/aten-asteroid-close-to-earth
Pretend there is a straight line through the earth to the moon. The earth is much larger than the moon. For an asteroid to hit the moon directly on the part facing the earth, it has to either come from the earth (did we bomb the moon in ages past ?) or it will hit the earth before it gets to the moon. Only a blow coming in from the side would be able to hit the moon , and then it would not make the kind of crater that Martin is talking about, it would make one that hit from the side, like the one that struck Russia a few years ago.
But there's a lot of space between us and the moon. It's really not that close at times. I have to see this all visually in front of me to understand what you're saying.
The moon is not flat and is not exactly a few miles in space... (As close to scale as I could get quickly). Plenty of room to bypass earth and collide with the moon. As to the earth... imagine removing all the water (71% of earth's surface) remove all earth's vegetation... wonder what earth would look like? Of course, the thought process leads to consideration of water/glaciers, etc. and how they transformed earth's service, etc. (Grand Canyon) EDIT: Where it states Circ. It should be diameter. What was I thinking?
I agree regarding meteorites and eclipses, but I do worry about society as a whole. If I see one more news report about pets and barnyard animals possibly being harmed by looking up at the sun, I may start praying for a meteor strike. The sun rises and sets every day. I'm sure Lassie, Mr. Ed and Elsie have it under control.