2007-01-22 06:07:45 · 6 answers · asked by joey 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070122/sc_space/earthsmoondestinedtodisintegrate
"The Moon will be torn to pieces and every crater, mountain, valley, footprint and flag will be scattered to form a spectacular 23,000-mile-diameter (37,000-kilometer) Saturn-like ring of debris above Earth's equator. The new rings will be short-lived. Theory dictates they'll eventually rain down onto Earth's surface"
This is AFTER the sun turns into a red giant.
2007-01-22 06:12:36 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Moon is constantly being bombarded by meteorites. Since there is little atmosphere, there is nothing to stop them from hitting the Moon with all the kinetic energy available.
The end effect is that everything on the surface is being pulverized, leaving a fine layer of dust. That's about it. It is crumbling to pieces, but it's not going to disintegrate any time soon.
A hypothesis is out there saying the Moon will be disintegrated when the Sun becomes a red giant in about 5 billion years. It's only a hypothesis at this point and certainly is not being observed at this point.
2007-01-22 06:14:38 · answer #2 · answered by gebobs 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you read the rest of the MSN article it says that is going to happen 6 BILLION years from now, when the Sun goes into the Red Phase and start sucking in the closer planets.
2007-01-22 06:13:33 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Check out this article just posted by Yahoo! News:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070122/sc_space/earthsmoondestinedtodisintegrate
2007-01-22 06:13:56 · answer #4 · answered by Sally 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, you know what happens to cheese when it gets old, and the moon is pretty old so it was bound to happen eventually.
2007-01-22 14:03:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
long time from now!
2007-01-22 06:25:22 · answer #6 · answered by swisshorizon 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋