How Often Does the Moon Get Hit?

This is a genuine question. Doing basic searches online, I came to the conclusion that there are around 300,000 craters on the moon. If these craters are in fact meteor hits, given the estimate that the Moon is 4.3bn years old, does this calculate to around every 14 years.

The Earth gets hit almost daily (and is reported) by as much as a golf ball... The Moon is 1/4 the size of the Earth, why do we not hear as much about the moon being hit than we do the Earth?

There's no particular purpose to this thread hence the category, but surely considering the state of many planets, and the amount the Moon has been hit, we should take a leaf out of 'it's' book.

Earth would attract more meteors because of its stronger gravity. Jupiter gets most of the meteors that enter the solar system for this same reason.

reply to post by scottlpool2003


I would say that we have taken a leaf out of it's book. We are looking for, and finding more NEOs now than at any time in the history of humankind.

Yes, the moon gets hit quite a bit (once every14 years might be for a relatively large object that leaves a crater that can easily be seen with a telescope - but I'm sure smaller objects are constantly pummeling the moon), but the moon has no significant atmosphere, unlike earth, and our atmosphere is very good at stopping objects that would create a sizable crater on the moon.

Objects that are large enough to penetrate the atmosphere and cause significant damage ("Tunguska" sized events) are few and far between - perhaps every 50-150 years. Objects that cause extinction level events are rarer still (perhaps once every 100,000 years), and because of their size, relatively easy to spot.

So there is still cause for concern, but mainly because "Tunguska" sized objects are relatively more plentiful and harder to spot. Technology is fast catching up though.