Top 10 Amazing Facts About Meteor Crater

Panoramic view of the Meteor Crater from upper deck Photo By Tsaiproject – Wikimedia

Top 10 Amazing Facts About Meteor Crater

Meteors are small bodies of matter that originates from outer space and enter the Earth. They appear as a streak of light in the sky because of friction.

Meteor Crater or Barringer Crater is a meteorite impact crater about 37 mi (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 mi (29 km) west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States.

Meteor Crater lies at an elevation of 5,640 ft (1,719 m) above sea level. It is about 3,900 ft (1,200 m) in diameter, some 560 ft (170 m) deep, and is surrounded by a rim that rises 148 ft (45 m) above the surrounding plains.

The center of the crater is filled with 690–790 ft (210–240 m) of rubble lying above the crater bedrock.

The crater remains privately owned by the Barringer family through their Barringer Crater Company, so it is not protected as a national monument. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in November 1967.

Here are 10 facts about Meteor Crater

1. How it Was Formed

Scientists estimate that the meteoroid was moving at a speed of 71000 km/h and that is when it hit the ground and exploded with power a thousand times greater than the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. It lifted into the air five to six million tons of rock and land and blocked the sunlight.

After a meteoroid impact, which is assumed to have been 40 km in diameter, weighs more than 300,000 tons, is dispersed and dissolved. The remains of the meteoroids, which consisted of nickel and iron, were found within 10 kilometers radius.

2. One Crater Several Names

Meteor Crater from the southeast; the uplift around the rim can be seen. Photo By USGS/D. Roddy – Wikimedia

The crater was created about 50,000 years ago. It was given several early names, including “Coon Mountain”, “Coon Butte”, “Crater Mountain”, ‘’Crater of Devil’s Canyon’’, “Meteor Mountain”, and “Meteor Crate’’ from the nearby post office named Meteor.

The crater is also referred to as Barringer Crater because Daniel M. Barringer was one of the first people to suggest that it was produced by meteorite impact. The Barringer family filed mining claims on the crater and purchased the crater and its surroundings.

Meteorites from the area were called Canyon Diablo meteorites, after Canyon Diablo, Arizona, which was the closest community to the crater in the late 19th century

3. Most Famous Meteorite

Scientists claim that there are over 4 billion meteors that fall into the Earth every single day. Most meteors are minuscule in size. While hundreds may fall from outer space daily, it is about 90-95% safe.

This is because most meteors completely burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the surface of the planet. This makes the Barringer meteorite one of the most famous meteorites due to the crater it left behind.

4. Best Preserved Meteorite Crater on Earth

Looking into the crater from the north rim. Photo By Grahampurse – Wikimedia

The crater was created in seconds about 50,000 years ago meaning it is a baby by impact.

Due to Meteor Crater’s relatively young age and the Arizona desert’s arid environment, it is considered Earth’s best-preserved impact crater of the 190 or so currently identified Earth impact craters while millions more have surely been lost to Earth’s geological processes!

5. First Terrestrial Impact Crater

Meteor Crater in Arizona, with a diameter of approximately 1.2 kilometers, was the first terrestrial impact crater to be recognized as such.

Researchers did not yet have a clear understanding of the immense energy that is liberated when an extraterrestrial body hits the surface of the Earth with cosmic velocity.

Under impact conditions, tremendous amounts of energy are released instantaneously, destroying the cosmic projectile and generating a crater that is many times larger than the original meteoroid.

In the case of Meteor Crater, an iron meteorite body only about 30–50 meters in diameter was enough to create a crater 1.2 kilometers in diameter.

6. Canyon Diablo Meteorite

Fragment of the Canyon Diablo Meteorite Photo By Centpacrr – Wikimedia

The Canyon Diablo meteorite refers to the many fragments of the asteroid that created Meteor Crater or Barringer Crater in Arizona, United States.

These Meteorites that fell 50,000 years ago have been found around the crater rim, and are named for nearby Canyon Diablo, which lies about three to four miles west of the crater.

7. Tourist Attraction

The world has long been fascinated with the wonder and mysteries of space. Meteor Crater is a popular tourist attraction privately owned by the Barringer family through the Barringer Crater Company, with an admission fee charged to see the crater. 

Meteor Crater is where space and earth have come together to create the world’s best-preserved, and most acclaimed meteor impact site. The family operates a tourist attraction in Western Arizona that allows visitors to see this natural wonder up close.

There’s also a museum that teaches tourists the science and history of meteorites.

8. Astronauts Trained at the Crater

An Apollo Test Capsule on exhibit in the Meteor Crater Visitor Center. Photo By Marine 69-71 – Wikimedia Commons

Meteor Crater has deep ties to NASA and its long history of space exploration. In the 1960s and 1970s NASA astronauts preparing for the first moon landing worked and explored the crater’s unique and rugged terrain to help them train for what they could expect in space.

The Meteor Crater is one of the few places on earth that is an exposed, and still fully intact, meteorite impact site that would emulate the surface of the moon.

9. A Plane Crash

Two commercial pilots in a Cessna 150 flew low over the crater in August 1964. After crossing the rim, they could not maintain the level of flight. The pilot attempted to circle in the crater to climb over the rim.

During the attempted climb out, the aircraft stalled, crashed, and caught fire. Both occupants were severely injured but survived. A small portion of the wreckage is still at the crash site.

10. Visitor’s Center

The Meteor Crater Visitor Center. Photo By Marine 69-71 –  Wikimedia Commons

The Meteor Crater Visitor Center on the north rim features interactive exhibits and displays about meteorites and asteroids, space, the Solar System, and comets. 

The Visitor Center includes a movie theater, a gift shop, and observation areas with views inside the rim of the crater. When the weather is good, guided tours of the rim are offered daily.