1. Impact Craters Leave an Impression…

2. Andy Saulietis Craters are everywhere! The Moon LPL / UA NASA Apollo 17

3. Mercury NASA/GSFC Asteroids NASA

4. Mars NASA

5. Even Earth… Meteor Crater, AZ Geoffrey NotkinUSGS

6. So what causes craters? Asteroids and Comets! NASA Left over building blocks of the solar system (~5 billion years old) Vary in size, from a few feet to a few miles Millions of potential meteors in our solar system alone Travel in excess of 20,000 mph

7. When these objects collide with another body, like the Earth, the result is a crater. Meteor Crater, AZ Wright, S.P Size: 150 Feet Across 1 Composition: Nickel- Iron 1 Speed: 28,600 MPH 1 Age: 50,000 years old 1 Energy: 2.5 Megatons 1 1 Barringer Meteor Crater Site http://www.barringercrater.com/

8. NASA/GSFC Shoemaker-Levy 9

9. Why do some planets have more craters than others? NASA/GSFC Atmosphere Oceans Plate Tectonics Location

10. So why do we care? NASA/GSFC Extinction

11. Estimated that there have been at least 5 mass-extinctions in Earth’s history 1 Up to 90% of all species killed off 2 At least one is believed to have been caused by a meteorite 1 65 Million Years ago, Yucatan Penninsula 2 >100 Miles across 2 Force Greater than 1,000,000 megatons 3 1 Lee Siegel, space.com 2 NASA/GSFC 3 Arnett, Bill, UA