Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Thayne
If that happens, what happens to the planet beneath?
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Depends on distance. Debris from the moon is mostly uninteresting, unless the average expansion velocity of the moon fragments exceeds the delta-V required to deorbit the moon most of the fragments just stay in orbit creating a new ring system, and if you have enough energy it's a pretty small moon and most of the energy will be wasted in fragments that miss the planet, so likely better off just hitting the planet directly. Gamma rays are also irrelevant, they'll get stopped by the atmosphere. However, the thermal flash will be dangerous at 100,000 km or so, so if the moon is relatively low altitude and the explosion is visible from the ground you might set a hemisphere on fire.