Today’s a special day for astronomy enthusiasts: It’s both Asteroid Day and Meteor Watch Day. To celebrate, we’re at the rim of a 560-foot-deep crater with a 3,900-foot diameter, creatively called "Meteor Crater." (Scientists call it Barringer Crater, for the name of the man who first theorized it was a meteorite-impact crater.) Some 50,000 years ago, parts of an asteroid fell to Earth here, in a location just east of Flagstaff, Arizona. And today, we can see just how devastating the collision must have been to leave a basin so large.
The aftermath of a meteorite
Today in History
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Winter solstice
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Ancient town of Sorano, Tuscany, Italy
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World Meerkat Day
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National Take a Hike Day
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Bohemian waxwings in Canada
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International Womens Day
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What’s blooming in New Zealand?
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Lobster tales
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National Garden Week begins today
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Where fire meets water
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Fibonacci Day
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World Migratory Bird Day
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Blue-footed booby, Galápagos Islands
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When Death Valley blew its top
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Flower of Life symbol drawn in snow
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The Kelpies statues in Falkirk, Scotland
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Patriot Day
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Inhale and exhale, it’s Yoga Day
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Avalanche Lake Trail at Adirondack High Peaks, New York
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Autumn comes to Old Town
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Flooded crypt, Basilica of San Francesco, Ravenna, Italy
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Hallstatt, Austria
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Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
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Summer winds down in the Southern Hemisphere
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Thunderstorm above the plains, Bulgaria
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Irohazaka Road in fall, Nikko, Tochigi, Japan
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Martinique
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Kinder Scout, Peak District National Park, England
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South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida
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The otherworldly red river
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