Monday, October 18, 2010

Meteorites Target Earth

Like fugitives on the run from distant solar systems, meteors hurtle through the Earth's atmosphere, lighting up the eyes of observers on the ground. Often these fireballs of metal and rock burn up in a blaze of glory, and many don't survive their impact with Earth's surface. Those that do though start a more settled life here on Earth as meteorites, they are huge and are resistant to the weather.

The Barringer Meteorite Crater in Arizona is a gigantic hole in the middle of the desert. Its rim is smashed and jumbled boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rise 150 feet above the level of the surrounding plain The crater is almost a mile wide and 570 feet deep.

When Europeans discoverd the crater, the plain around it was covered with chunks of meteorite iron-over 30 tons of it scattered over an area 8 to 10 miles in diameter. Scientist believe the impact of this crater was 150 times stronger then the bombs that were used on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The ancient blast displaced 175,000,000 tons of rock.

Here is a list of five heavy weights of the meteorites that hit earth and are visible to see.
1. Sihhote-alin, Russia=largest known meteorite in the world==weighed 70 tons.
2. Hoba, Namibia=second largest, found in Namibia, weighed over 60 tons.
3. Campo del Cielo= Argentina=largest mass of meteorite, 37 tons,found in 1969.
4. Cape York, Greenland=meteorite hit earth almost 10,000 years ago, largest piece of it weighed 30.1 tons.
5. Armanty=China=weighing 28.0 tons

The list goes on, but this is very interesting how much they weigh. Earth has a few meteorites that strike earth daily and there are a lot that burn up coming through the atmosphere.

15 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

A most interesting and unusual topic Margaret. I never knew many of the facts you wrote so I guess I learned something today.

Thanks for the visits and comments it was lovely of you to visit and I appreciate it.
Have a good week.
Yvonne.

Kavita Saharia said...

Very informative as well as fun to read...i love learning something interesting every time i visit you.I have read that Meteorites often contain minerals not found on Earth.Thanks for sharing this :)

Have a nice week !

dr.antony said...

There are people around us more dangerous than the meteorites,striking at the lives of others.

DeniseinVA said...

Hi Margaret, that's a lovely post. So very interesting. Always enjoyable to come here for a visit. Have a great day :)

Patty said...

Interesting post. Lets hope most of those babies burn up before they hit the earth.

Anonymous said...

It just amazes me that more meteorites don't hit the earth. :) Margaret, So glad you are joining the Give Thanks party. :)

Becky said...

I guess I never realized some of the weights, and I certainly wouldn't want to be under one. LOL
Have a wonderful rest of the week Margaret.
B.

Kay said...

It is scary to think that some day another huge meteorite has the potential to come crashing into Earth. I'd love to see that crater in Arizona. It must be hard to get to.

Linda said...

It also amazes me that more meteorites don't strike the earth - to me, that's a sign of God's gracious protection for sure. :)

Loved reading your interesting facts.
Hope you're having a wonderful week.
~Linda

Judy said...

I hope one doesn't hit here as dry as it is! We are totally in a drought. I learned a lot from this post. Always enjoy coming here. Have a good weekend.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is interesting. I even watch the television team, Meteorite Man when I happen to see it is on.

Anonymous said...

very interesting thanks for sharing with us. Hope you have an awesome weekend.

caspersmom said...

This was interesting. They sure can weigh a lot. I have seen the "big hole" in Arizona. When we first moved up here to Northern California there were quite a few seen often. They are so pretty whizzing on through the atomosphere, especially the big ones.

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Margaret are you ok? My pc had a breakdown this week so was off line.
I just realised on returning you have been off also.
Hope all is well
Yvonne.

Midlife Mom said...

Wow! That is amazing, I didn't realize that they weighed so much!! I have been to Arizona several times but never have seen the big crater there, need to put that on my to do list as we are going back out in the spring.

I agree 100% with you on your previous post. These people get off way to easy and I think it is just deplorable! As you said home invasions are on the rise and it scares me to death. The doctors family and that other family with all the special needs children just breaks my heart!!!!! Good post my friend!

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