Without some concept of the Moon as a gravitationally contained puddle (for instance, from stories of Moon formation or splashing from very large impactors), it is then not unreasonable for people to think “but what if the Moon has a flaw, like a vase? then even a gentle tap might break it”.

And without some feel for long-term orbital dynamics and stability, it’s not unreasonable to think “but what if the nudge were to ‘unhook’ the Moon, so it doesn’t hang in quite the same place anymore?”.

Neither are really taught, even to the tiny portion of people who take an introductory astronomy course.

Physics Education Research has the concept of surveying misconceptions, and crafting material to address them directly. Rather than the false hope of “figure it out, say it clearly, and everything will work out”. Perhaps the same thing could be done with science journalism, given a collaborative environment with which to spread cost and create synergy.

[1] http://en.wikinews.org/ might be a forum for such discussion, but this story doesn’t seem to have been covered. Perhaps wikinews might be nudged towards greater coverage of science stories. And might provide a collaborative environment in which quality coverage can be created.

I wonder if there are recent high-res photos of the known LM or Ranger impact sites? “That tiny shadow over there…”

Perhaps mention that “!! 5,600 mph !!” is 10x slower than most of the cruft that usually hits us (Moon and Earth) – 2 km/s vs a more typical 20+ km/s.

How often is the Moon hit by something of similar mass? Given the low speed, how often is there an impact of similar energy? Maybe something very vaguely like yearly and daily?

The whole point isn’t about creating a collision – those happen all the time. It’s just about having one that you know about ahead of time, in a place you can see well, so you can arrange to watch closely.

I’m reminded of NASA getting a note of concern from a fisherman somewhere, that if Apollo 11 brought back some Moon rocks, the Moon would become less bright and he would net less fish.

Perhaps this is a teachable moment for the concept that people have no sense of scale? “It’s very hard to have a sense of what is reasonable, and not, about very unfamiliar objects.[...] Worrying about this is like worrying about a single raindrop hitting an aircraft carrier.” “Joey!!! Don’t let your little brother drop that goldfish, it’s hitting the floor will destroy the building!!!”

For some, perhaps this is a teachable moment for “You were confident this was something to be concerned about. You see now it very very isn’t. Perhaps you might remember this possibility of being confident, but completely wrong, when deciding what to be concerned about in future”.

Might be worth mentioning the ton per hour(?) of rock the Earth gets every day.

I wonder what (tiny) portion of that is ejecta from recent lunar impacts. Can we hope for an extra microscopic grain of dust from LCROSS? An extra few molecules? Hmm, a half-moon, so solar wind isn’t helping. Oh well.