New Crater Found in Egypt

The Kamil crater was discovered in February during a survey of satellite images on Google Earth. Researchers think the crater formed within the past couple thousand of years. An Italian-Egyptian team set out to investigate about this discovery. They found that the crater is 147 feet wide (45 meters) and 52 feet deep (16 meters). They also collected many pieced of space rocks that were found around the desert. They reasoned that a 4.2 feet wide (1.3 meters) solid iron meteor weighing 2,267 to 4,535 pounds (5,000 to 10,000 kilograms) smashed into the desert, nearly intact, at speeds over 2.1 miles (3.5 kilometers) a second. Folco and colleagues were astonished to find that the newfound, bowl-shaped crater has a splatter pattern of bedrock shot up by the original impact blast; ejecta rays.

This article has to do Earth science because it involved craters and meteors. A crater is circular depression on a surface, usually referring to a planet, moon, asteroid, or other celestial body. A meteor is a bright streak of light that appears briefly in the sky. These meteors can affect the Earth negatively by causing damage to the planet. The impact of craters can bring danger to out planet.

This news is important because it can affect us in the future if we are not informed about the subject and its effects. Scientists are trying to figure out the threats of this issue. "Our knowledge is very limited, so events such as these are quite important for helping us understand the frequency and nature of impacts that affect our planet,” John Spray said.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/100722-science-space-egypt-kamil-crater-meteor-meteorite-impact-hazard/