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
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Bird’s-eye view of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California
-
The fantastic winter fox
-
Tour de France
-
San Blas Islands, Panama
-
Dolomites
-
Albion Falls, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
-
Zelenci Nature Reserve, Slovenia
-
World Water Day
-
Wooden path to Kennedy Lake, Vancouver Island, Canada
-
Iceland for International Rock Day
-
harlem
-
Feel the spray in Monterey
-
Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona
-
Keep your hands inside the ride at all times…
-
Village of Santa Maddalena, Dolomites, Italy
-
Old Town in Prague, Czech Republic
-
Arches National Park, Utah
-
Duck, duck. duck, duck, duck...
-
All in a day s work
-
National Rivers Month
-
Light show at the skatepark
-
Northern gannets, Shetland Islands, Scotland
-
Hoodoos, Sunset Point, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
-
Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Canada
-
Ljubljana, Slovenia
-
Life goes on at the Beatles Ashram
-
Vacuum Chamber 5 at Glenn Research Center
-
American Wetlands Month
-
Room at the top?
-
Cherry blossoms spring to life
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

