[meteorite-list] Arizona's Meteor Crater: A Big Bang For Your Buck

From: Dave Freeman mjwy <dfreeman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Aug 22 10:29:06 2006
Message-ID: <44E9B27B.90904_at_fascination.com>

Dear List, E.P.;
The $15 adult visitor fee makes my visit a few years ago at $9 seem a
bargain!
It would be interesting to know how MUCH they think a hunt of the crater
meteorite strewn/debris field would bring.

Best,
Dave F.
IMCA #3864


E.P. Grondine wrote:

>Hi Ron, list -
>
>Anybody got any idea when they will conduct meteorite
>hunting parties on the site, if ever?
>
>good hunting,
>Ed
>
>--- Ron Baalke <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
>
>
>
>>
>>
>http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-sidetrip20aug20,1,2024700.story
>
>
>>Arizona's Meteor Crater: A big bang for your buck
>>By David Ferrell
>>Los Angeles Time
>>August 20, 2006
>>
>>IF it were due to happen on a specific date - say,
>>on a moonless Friday
>>night, when the Arizona sky is frosted with stars -
>>the popular interest
>>might be staggering. People and TV trucks might line
>>the roads at a safe
>>distance, looking for the best vantage points. All
>>would point
>>binoculars or cameras to witness one of the great
>>celestial spectacles
>>in history.
>>
>>As it is, the space rock that landed in the barren
>>desert near Winslow,
>>Ariz., fell 50,000 years ago.
>>
>>A stop between...Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest
>>national parks. It's
>>only six miles south of Interstate 40, about 30
>>minutes' drive east of
>>Flagstaff.
>>
>>The draw: Meteor Crater, a pit as round as any moon
>>crater, is more than
>>4,000 feet across and deep enough to swallow a
>>60-story building.
>>
>>There's a tiny museum with a gift shop but no resort
>>hotels, no
>>adjoining casinos and not a single theme restaurant.
>>The crater is
>>pretty much all there is, and yet an estimated
>>230,000 people still come
>>to see it each year. Apollo astronauts trained
>>inside it in the 1960s
>>because of its similarity to lunar craters.
>>
>>Visitors stare at the crater's steep, pale-mustard
>>walls, look to the
>>sky and try to grasp what it must have been like
>>when worlds collided.
>>Scientists estimate that the object that landed here
>>was only 150 feet
>>in diameter but struck with the force of 20 million
>>tons of TNT. It
>>would have roared from the sky at a mind-boggling
>>40,000 mph.
>>
>>"This is impressive," said Bob McNabb of Portland,
>>Ore., who was gazing
>>at the crater from the uppermost of three
>>observation decks along the
>>northern rim. "Some people said, 'Yeah, it's just a
>>big hole in the
>>ground' - but we're glad we came."
>>
>>The site is still owned by the descendants of Daniel
>>Barringer, who
>>began exploring the crater in 1903 and staked the
>>original claim, hoping
>>to mine the meteorite itself. The rock must have
>>disintegrated, however,
>>because no significant piece of it has ever been
>>recovered.
>>
>>The lesson of Meteor Crater is that Earth is in
>>constant danger. As a
>>museum display points out, a huge explosion in
>>Tunguska, Siberia, in
>>1908, knocked down trees across about 800 square
>>miles. "A very large
>>meteorite could be disastrous," a placard warns,
>>"creating a huge
>>initial blast, followed by tsunamis, wildfires,
>>prolonged darkness and
>>atmospheric effects."
>>
>>A smaller Meteor Crater-size impact may happen every
>>50,000 years. Which
>>means, perhaps, we're due for another.
>>
>>The delay: It's a 10- or 15-minute detour off
>>Interstate 40 to the
>>crater. Allow 60 to 90 minutes to see the museum,
>>walk along the rim and
>>check out the view from the observation decks.
>>Guided tours of the rim
>>leave hourly between 9:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. daily.
>>
>>*
>>
>>Meteor Crater, Exit 233 off Interstate 40. Open 7
>>a.m. to 7 p.m. between
>>Memorial Day and Labor Day, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the
>>rest of the year.
>>$15, $13 seniors; $6 ages 6-17, 5 and younger free.
>>(928) 289-5898,
>>http://www.meteorcrater.com .
>>
>>
>>______________________________________________
>>Meteorite-list mailing list
>>Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>>
>>
>>
>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
>
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com
>______________________________________________
>Meteorite-list mailing list
>Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/attachments/20060821/2bc6fac1/attachment.html
Received on Mon 21 Aug 2006 09:17:47 AM PDT