Earth Impact Database
The moon is full of craters because there has been at various times in the past a lot of material (meteors and comets) in the vicinity. The earth has also been so affected but it's because of the atmosphere and generally greenery that it has taken a while to recognise it. This site is a database of Earth impact points. Because of the earth's atmosphere only the real biggies get through but when they do you get massive devastation like in Tunguska in 1908. Thankfully very big impacts are pretty rare- though it is believed that one which has more energy than all of the worlds nuclear arsenals happens on average once in a million years or less.
The Earth Impact Database is compiled and held by the University of New Brunswick, Canada and consists of maps of impact points across the globe with extra material for each one, including geological data and in some cases photographs like this one shown in Morasko in Poland.
Incidentally the moon is believed to have formed when debris the size of Mars hit the Earth and ejected what became the moon! Strange to think that our tidal system only happened because of a bit of a fluke!
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Posted: August 7th, 2010 under default.
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