October 23, 2012

Meteor Crater  Windslow, Arizona

Today we stopped to visit and tour Meteor Crater, better known in the area as Barringer Crater.  It was a very interesting couple of hours. Here is a little history:

Fifty thousand years ago, a meteor ripped through the skies over the land we now call Arizona. Travelling at roughly 40,000 miles an hour (64,000 kilometers an hour) - 11 miles per second (18 kilometers per second) - it smashed into the surface of the high plateau. Within a few seconds, the resulting massive explorsion threw millions of tons of roch over the surrounding area, opening a crater three-quarters of a mile across and 700 feet (210 meters) deep. A shock wave of hurricane force winds flashed out in every direction, causing destruction for miles......

This test capsule, named Boiler Plate 29A never flew into space. Instead, the capsule was built in 1965 to tes the systems that helped Apollo space capsules float upright after splash-down at sea.

Michel and a piece of the meteor

The largest meteor ever found in the USA -

 
This is all that stands of the home, once owned by the Barringers, located on the rim of the crater. There is a good website that you can check out if you're interested in finding out more information about the Barringer Crater : www.barringercrater.com

There was a good group of people on this 'rim walk' tour, which lasted about and hour. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and quite the jokester..... photo shoot afterwards....

A panoramic view of the Meteor (Barringer) Crater