It would be pretty cool if it hits the moon. Hopefully in about five years we will know pretty accurately if that's still the case, in which case I think I will use this as an excuse to finally buy a telescope. Maybe even record it!

> "There is still a 96.2% chance that the asteroid will miss the moon," NASA said in a statement on Thursday.

All is well!

> It is now believed to be 53 to 67 meters, roughly the height of a 15-story building.

Good thing we have so much confidence in our leadership and intergovernmental cooperative relationships!

Protecting Earth from asteroids is part of the job we hired the Moon to do. I mean, have you seen the back side of that thing?

Kidding aside, an argument can be made that life on Earth would never have had time to evolve if not for the Moon's protective effect against cataclysmic impacts.

> It is now believed to be 53 to 67 meters, roughly the height of a 15-story building.

> This is significant because it is bigger than the 50-meter threshold for activating planetary defense plans.

> If the asteroid still had a more than 1% chance of hitting Earth, "the development of one or more deflection missions would already be starting now", Moissl said.

Well, I hope they are right, because it appears we’re going to miss the opportunity to do anything about it if they are wrong.

Given the known size of the asteroid and assuming a direct impact how big of a crater would be created?(give an existing crater as an example for extra points) And would any ejecta make it to Earth?