What happens when a meteor [ http://www.seds.org…] hits the ground? Usually nothing much, as most meteors [ http://medicine.wus…] are small, and indentations they make are soon eroded away. 49,000 years ago, however, a large meteor created Barringer Meteor Crater [ http://www.etsimo.u…] in Arizona, pictured above. Barringer [ http://www.meteorit…] is over a kilometer across. In 1920, it was the first feature on Earth to be recognized as an impact crater [ http://cass.jsc.nas…]. Today, over 100 terrestrial impact craters [ http://bang.lanl.go…] have been identified. Early this morning, the Leonid Meteor Shower [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] reaches its peak, although no impacts of this magnitude are expected.
