Just southwest of Winslow, Arizona, there is a huge gapping hole in the midst of a flat expanse of desert. It is known as the Barringer Meteorite Crater or simply Meteor Crater. At the time of impact this part of Arizona was not a desolate wasteland, but it was changed in a blink of an eye. The meteor, which hit the earth and created this gigantic hole in the ground, was about half the size of a football field but the crater it made is approximately a mile in diameter. This meteor traveling at 45000 miles per hour hit the earth with the force of more than 1000 times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II. Searing hot winds of speeds of 2000 miles per hour scorched the surrounding area and vaporized all that was close to the point of impact.

It should also be noted that NASA used the site as a training grounds for part of their space training programs.

For more information on Meteor Crater visit the links below:

http://archive.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DyeHard/dye26.html