Welcome to Earth
Introduction
Earth is the 3rd planet from the Sun at a distance of about 93.2 million miles (150 million kilometers). It takes 365.256 days for the Earth to travel around the Sun, while traveling an incredible speed of 67,000 miles (108,000 kilometers) an hour, and it takes 23.9345 hours for the Earth rotate a complete revolution. Earth has a diameter of 7,973 miles (12,756 kilometers), only a couple hundred miles larger than that of Venus. The atmosphere is composed of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and 1 percent other gases. For other statistics about Earth click here.
Earth is the only planet in the solar system known to have the ability to sustain life. Earth's unique atmosphere acts as a protective shell to shield all the individuals who inhabit Earth from the dangers of space. Earth's atmosphere protects us from most meteors, which burn up in the upper reaches of the atmosphere before they can strike the surface. The atmosphere also protects from the harmful UV rays that are emitted by the Sun.
For further information about Earth click here.
Craters
Meteorite impacts create two basic types of craters, simple and complex. Simple craters typically have a depth to width ratio of between 1:5 and 1:7, and they have a bowl-like feature. They often resemble a bowl as they are round with dirt particles located on the rim of the crater.
The complex crater is a larger crater with an initially steep wall that collapses inward forming a central peak. The central peak is an exposed core of rocks that is only found in complex meteorite impact craters. In complex craters the depth to width ratio is between 1:10 and 1:20, depending on the surface gravity of the planet. On Earth the transition diameter is between 1.2 and 2.5 miles (2 and 4 kilometers) depending on the properties of the meteorite.
To visit some of our other pages use these links!
Impact page
Moon page
Jupiter page
For more information pertaining to general solar system click here