Huge Impact Crater Found in Egypt
Space rock crater in the Sahara is about 25 times
larger than Meteor Crater in Arizona! Similar asteroid bypasses Earth,
TODAY!
Scientists have discovered a huge crater in the Saharan desert, the largest one ever found there. The crater is about 19 miles (31 kilometers) wide, more than twice as big as the next largest Saharan crater known. It utterly dwarfs Meteor Crater in Arizona, which is about three-fourths of a mile (1.2 kilometers) in diameter.
The crater was discovered in satellite images by Boston University researchers Farouk El-Baz and Eman Ghoneim.
“Kebira may have escaped recognition because it is so large—bigger than the area of 125 football fields, or the total expanse of the Cairo urban region from its airport in the northeast to the Pyramids of Giza in the southwest,” El-Baz said today. “Also, the search for craters typically concentrates on small features, especially those that can be identified on the ground. The advantage of a view from space is that it allows us to see regional patterns and the big picture.”
There’s an asteroid bypassing Earth, today — almost the same size! Aren’t you glad it’s only “close”?
Posted: Mon - March 6, 2006 at 05:20 AM