New Evidence about Asteroid that Killed the Dinosaurs

A new look at conditions after a Manhattan-sized asteroid slammed into a region of Mexico in the dinosaur days indicates the event could have triggered a global firestorm that would have burned every twig, bush and tree on Earth and led to the extinction of 80 percent of all Earth’s species, says a new University of Colorado Boulder study.

Led by Douglas Robertson of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, the team used models that show the collision would have vaporized huge amounts of rock that were then blown high above Earth’s atmosphere. The re-entering ejected material would have heated the upper atmosphere enough to glow red for several hours at roughly 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius) killing every living thing not sheltered underground or underwater.

Iowa meteorite crater confirmed

Recent airborne geophysical surveys near Decorah, Iowa are providing an unprecedented look at a 470-million-year-old meteorite crater concealed beneath bedrock and sediments.

The aerial surveys, a collaboration of the U.S. Geological Survey with the Iowa and Minnesota Geological Surveys, were conducted in the last 60 days to map geologic structures and assess the mineral and water resources of the region.

“Capturing images of an ancient meteorite impact was a huge bonus,” said Paul Bedrosian, a USGS geophysicist who is leading the effort to model the recently acquired geophysical data. “These findings highlight the range of applications that these geophysical methods can address.”

Did a Comet Really Chill and Kill Clovis Culture?

A comet crashing into the Earth some 13,000 years ago was thought to have spelled doom to a group of early North American people, and possibly the extinction of ice age beasts in the region.

But the space rock was wrongly accused, according to a group of 16 scientists in fields ranging from archaeology to crystallography to physics, who have offered counterevidence to the existence of such a collision.

Pristine moon crater could help unlock secrets of impacts

Scientists trying to understand the evolution of impact craters on Earth and other rocky bodies have found a good case study on the moon.

Researchers are focusing on Linne Crater, which lies in the moon's Mare Serenitatis region. Linne is just 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers) wide, but it's extremely young — having formed just 10 million years or so ago — and beautifully preserved.

Oldest Impact Crater on Earth Discovered in Greenland

With shifting continents, rain, and wind, finding traces of ancient impact craters on Earth has been, literally, astronomically low. Now, an international team of scientists say they have found a massive impact crater in Greenland a billion years older than other known asteroid impact on Earth.

Scientists found the remains of the giant 100-kilometer (62 mile) wide crater near the Maniitsoq region of West Greenland and they believe it’s three billion years old. The largest and previously oldest known crater is the 300 kilometer-wide Vredefort crater in South Africa. Tipped on its side, the edges of the Maniitsoq crater would extend from the surface of the Earth to the edge of space.

A penetrating, double-ringed crater on Mars

Mars is weird. Right? I mean, it’s a whole other planet. So you expect it to be weird.

But then I see pictures like this one from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera, and I am reminded just how weird it is:

Most craters you see are pretty simple: something impacts the ground at high speed, BOOM!, and you get a crater like a dish tossed into soft sand. But this one has two rings, one inside the other. That can happen with huge impacts producing craters hundreds of kilometers across, but this one is small, only 230 meters from side to side – an American football stadium would just fit inside this crater.

Curiosity rover: Why is Nasa so curious about Gale Crater?

Early on Monday morning, Nasa's Curiosity rover will attempt a hazardous landing on the Martian surface. It will take seven minutes from the capsule hitting the top of the atmosphere at six kilometres per second to the van-sized vehicle being placed gently on the ground.

A heat shield to withstand heating to 1,600C, the largest and strongest supersonic parachute yet built, and finally a new piece of kit called the Sky Crane will all be used.

Gale Crater: Geological 'sweet shop' awaits Mars rover

John Grotzinger is the project scientist on Nasa's latest multi-billion-dollar mission to Mars.

He's going to become a familiar face in the coming months as he explains to TV audiences the importance of the discoveries that are made by the most sophisticated spacecraft ever sent to touch the surface of another world.

Double impact crater seen on Mars

PARIS, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A spacecraft orbiting Mars captured images of interconnected impact craters astronomers say were formed by a single object that split in two just before impact.

The overlapping craters dubbed Sigli and Shambe, photographed by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, are located in an area of the Red Planet dubbed the Ladon Basin, an ESA release said Thursday.

Crater Lake, Oregon

A trecut ceva timp de la ultima noastră relatare de călătorie, şi chiar avem destule de povestit. Am fost plecaţi în vacanţă în Oregon, unde ne-am simţit excepţional. Ne-am propus să plecăm vineri seara, dar o vacanţă de 5 zile cu rulota şi cu doi copii presupune să luăm o jumătate de casă cu noi.:). Aşa că ne hotărâm să plecăm sâmbătă de dimineaţă la prima oră, cu condiţia să avem totul pregătit de vineri seara. A fost o experienţă tare interesantă să fac curat in rulotă cu fetele în jurul meu, dar până la urmă am reuşit: am spălat perdelele şi le-am pus la locul lor (cu mare “calm” reuşesc să rup un dispozitiv de prindere al perdelelor şi Maria îmi spune: “Mami, rău te mai supără perdelele acestea.”), dăm cu aspiratorul, curăţăm dulapurile şi punem folie nouă, spălăm acoperitoarele de la paturi şi le punem la loc (s-au micşorat în uscător, dar până la urmă reuşim să le îndesăm), spălăm geamurile şi facem curat în baie.

Cel mai mare crater de pe Pământ, descoperit în Groenlanda

Cel mai vechi şi mai mare crater de pe Terra a fost descoperit, de curând, în Groenlanda.

Cercetătorii susţin că acesta s-a format în urmă cu trei miliarde de ani şi are un diametru de 100 de kilometri. "Înainte de a fi supus eroziunii, acesta ar fi avut un diametru de 500 de kilometri", crede omul de ştiinţă danez Adam Gard.

Specialiştii au lansat ipoteza potrivit căreia craterul ar fi apărut ca urmare a impactului cu un meteorit cu diametrul de 30 de kilometri care, în cazul în care ar lovi astăzi Terra, ar şterge orice urmă de viaţă de pe uscat.

NASA a descoperit un crater de pe Lună acoperit parţial cu gheaţă

NASA a observat gheaţa în imaginile realizate craterului Shackleton, aflat la Polul Sud al satelitului nostru. 

Sonda Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) de la NASA a adus informaţii ce indică că gheaţa ar putea reprezenta 22% din materialul de la suprafaţa craterului. Cercetătorii au observat că fundul craterului este mai luminos decât al altora, sugerând prezenţa unei mici cantităţi de gheaţă. Această informaţie îi va ajuta pe experţi să înţeleagă formarea craterelor şi să studieze zonele necunoscute ale Lunii.

S-au împlinit 104 ani de la explozia misterioasă de la Tunguska

Pe 30 iunie s-au împlinit 104 ani de la misterioasa explozie din zona forestieră Tunguska, în mijlocul Siberiei. Aceasta a avut puterea a 15 megatone de TNT, aproximativ de 1000 de ori mai puternică decât bomba atomică de la Hiroshima.

Explozia din pădure a fost atât de puternică încât a fost simțită și auzită la mai bine de 1.500 de kilmetri depărtare, relatează Business Insider.

Localnicii atribuie fenomenul unor cauze supranaturale, unui zeu ce pedepsește răutatea oamenilor. Oamenii de știință, însă, consideră că a fost vorba de un meteorit.