How big was the meteor that made the Crater in Arizona?

Meteor Crater measures 0.75 miles (1.2 kilometers) across and about 600 feet (180 meters) deep. The size of the asteroid that produced the impact is uncertain—likely in the range of 100 to 170 feet (30 to 50 meters) across—but it had to be large enough to excavate 175 million metric tons of rock.

What did investigators find at Meteor Crater in Arizona?

Scientists have discovered why there isn’t much impact-melted rock at Meteor Crater in northern Arizona. About half of the original 300,000 ton, 130-foot-diameter (40-meter-diameter) space rock would have fractured into pieces before it hit the ground, Melosh said.

How old was the meteorite that made Meteor Crater in Arizona?

between 5,000 and 50,000 years
Meteor Crater, near Winslow, Arizona. Discovered in 1891, its age has been variously estimated at between 5,000 and 50,000 years. Large numbers of nickel–iron fragments from gravel size to 1,400 pounds (640 kg) have been found in a 100-square-mile (260-square-kilometre) area.

Who owns Meteor Crater AZ?

The Barringer Crater Company
Mission. The Barringer Crater Company is a family-owned enterprise dedicated to the preservation of the Barringer Meteorite Crater and to furthering the understanding of the science of meteoritics.

Is Meteor Crater worth seeing?

The Meteor Crater was one of those things you don’t really hear about, but it is an awesome thing to see, and definitely worthy of being considered a Route 66 Landmark. Like most Route 66 tourist stops, there are billboards that lead you to this stop for miles ahead of time.

How big of a crater would an asteroid made?

Typically, materials from space hit Earth at about 20 kilometers (slightly more than 12 miles) per second. Such a high-speed impact produces a crater that is approximately 20 times larger in diameter than the impacting object.

Are meteorites worth money?

Meteorites are valuable both to science and the collecting community. Meteorites have significant financial value to collectors and scientific value to researchers. Meteorite values can range from a few dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What caused the Arizona crater?

Forty-nine thousand years ago, a large 30 to 50 meter diameter iron asteroid impacted the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona. The resulting massive explosion excavated 175 million tons of rock, forming a crater nearly a mile wide and 570 feet deep. (Click here to learn about the geology of the region).

Can you go inside Meteor Crater?

We do not permit our guests to hike down to the bottom of the Crater, primarily for safety reasons. Also, scientific research is being conducted inside the Crater on a year-round basis. There are 3 lookout points with spectacular views of the Crater. There are also great views if you take one of our guided rim tours.

How long does it take to visit Meteor Crater?

We would recommend you set aside 2-3 hours to watch the movie, spend some time in the Interactive Discovery Center, view the crater from the various lookout points and take a guided rim tour. We look forward to your visit!

Why can’t asteroids become round?

Originally Answered: Why are asteroids not round? They don’t have enough gravity in order to force them to become round. When they are large enough that their gravity makes them round (“spherical”), we call them dwarf planets, such as Ceres. Asteroids are facing many internal and external pressures.

How big of an asteroid would destroy the Earth?

From the amount and distribution of iridium present in the 65-million-year-old “iridium layer”, the Alvarez team later estimated that an asteroid of 10 to 14 km (6 to 9 mi) must have collided with Earth.

What year was the Meteor Crater made in AZ?

Meteor Crater (Barringer Meteorite Crater) formed 50,000 years ago when an asteroid plunged through the Earth’s atmosphere and crashed into what would become central Arizona. Because of the crater’s young age and the dry climate Meteor Crater is the best preserved impact crater on Earth.

How wide is Arizona meteor crater?

The crater is about 19 miles (31 kilometers) wide, more than twice as big as the next largest Saharan crater known. It utterly dwarfs Meteor Crater in Arizona, which is about three-fourths of a mile (1.2 kilometers) in diameter.

What is a famous crater formed by a meteor?

Barringer Crater is the best known and best preserved impact crater on Earth. The crater is named after Daniel Barringer who was first to suggest that it was produced by a meteorite impact. The crater is still privately owned by his family and is also simply known as Meteor Crater or Arizona Crater. Measuring about 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) in diameter and 170 meters (570 feet) deep, with a rim 45 meter higher on average than the surrounding plain, the crater lies near Flagstaff, Arizona.

Where is the asteroid crater in Arizona?

The ghost town of Diablo Canyon , for which the meteorite is named, is on the canyon just to the north and out of the picture. Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater approximately 37 miles (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 miles (29 km) west of Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States. Oct 25 2019