July 25, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
About 50,000 years ago, a 150-foot-wide chunk of rock (92 percent iron, 7 percent nickel and 1 percent trace elements) moving at around 26,000 miles an hour from the north or northeast, struck Earth near what would later be Winslow, Ariz., at an 80-degree angle. The result? A crater more than 4,100 feet wide, and more than 570 feet deep. The resulting Meteor Crater is now thought to be the best-preserved such location in the world, and showcases how dangerous even relatively small rocks can be if they hit our planet.
CNET News.com's Daniel Terdiman made a stop at the crater on his Road Trip 2007 around the Southwest to check out the area's important science and tech spots.
This is the crater, as seen from the north, looking south.
Photo by Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com
