Agreed. And we’re damn lucky to have the moon where it is. It seemed to have blocked quite a few major impacts from hitting Earth as well.
People laugh about this because we haven’t seen a big strike in historical times, so their bias is “can’t happen”. But it will. next week, next year, next century, we don’t know when but it will. Actually your actuarial risk of dying from an asteroid or comet strike is close to your risk of dying in a plane crash. It’s small but real.
The meteors that hit the moon, had the moon not been there, would not necessarily have hit the earth.
The Moon is only 1/4th the diameter of the Earth, and hasn’t protected us beyond some of the craters seen on the lunar surface — but while those were forming, Earth was also getting struck. The difference is, impact is the dominant geological process on the Moon, and Earth has wind, rain, etc.
Ya know? When I wuz 10 they told me "The Moon is there to protect the Earth from asteroids."
They didn't have an answer when I pointed out that, if anything, the Earth, being bigger, was there to protect the Moon from asteroids!
Teachers hated me...