Part 7 - the Arizona Meteor Crater

We decided (on my pleas) to go to the Arizona Meteor Crater. As an Amateur Astronomer I certainly have an interest in such a space related event. The Meteor Crater is said to be the only well preserved impact crater on Earth. Even after 50,000 years it remains relatively pristine and as such it is much sought out by NASA for Astronaut and geological training for our space program. Even Hollywood couldn’t resist its value. You may recall the movie “Starman” starring Jeff Bridges. The crater became the “pick up” point for Bridges’ persona to be returned “home.”
Like many of you, we’ve all seen pictures of this crater, either in textbooks, National Geographic, etc. But, to drive up to it and view it from the side from a distance, one notices the crater wall rim rise up from the relatively flat land surrounding the crater. Driving to the exit of Meteor Crater Rd. we looked to see a clue as to how far the crater is from the highway. Pat could see cars parked on a rise in the land and that’s when it hit me. The impact of the 150’ space rock hitting the earth at 26,000 mph raised a wall of earth about four or five (or more) stories high. From our position we could plainly see the rim of the crater rising above the flatness of the land. Those are NOT "mountains" in the distance. That is the crater rim.
We turned onto Meteor Crater Road, drove past the Meteor Crater Campground and proceeded on the well maintained six mile road leading to the crater. The crater is privately staffed and maintained. It sits in the middle of a 350,000 acre ranch. The main building built into the north side of the crater rim consists of a museum, store, theater, Subway and dozens of interactive displays. You have a choice of whether to view the crater by yourself in a designated viewing area or take a one hour guided tour a short distance along the rim.
“Kim” was our tour guide and provided us with all kinds of crater “nuggets of knowledge.”
Due to the fragile nature of the crater and the desire to keep it in excellent shape, they no longer allow visitors to “meander” along the rim on your own. Not to mention, the walls are steep and very rocky so liability became a very real concern.
The depth of the crater has decreased due to erosion from 700’ to 500’ from the time of the event. It has a beauty all its own. For many years it was thought that the crater resulted from a volcano. But scientists just can’t leave things along. “Clues” strewn several miles away began to unravel the cause of this “moon like” crater here on Earth.
People study the moon’s craters and try to comprehend the forces that are at work when a high speed object hits terra firma. Well, here is one we can admire, “feel” and learn from, right here on Earth, and it’s a beauty!