How do the characteristics of a meteorite and its impact affect the shape of the crater?
It was in the early 1900s that scientists first concluded a meteorite caused the formation of a crater. (Most astronomers before that time had assumed that craters were formed by volcanoes.) The first crater that scientists proved had come from a meteorite was the Barringer Meteor Crater in the Arizona desert. This gigantic depression is nearly 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) wide and 570 feet (174 meters) deep. Since that time, scientists have studied both the many craters on the Moon and the ones on Earth to study meteorite impact.
