TOP 5 LARGEST ASTEROIDS IMPACT - VORAKA

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN VORAKA

Article Published on 29 May 2023 by Gloria Poletti | www.vorakamag.com

Asteroids are big rocks floating around in space, and they've been around since the beginning of our solar system, which is about 4.5 billion years ago. These space rocks have been pretty important for Earth because they brought water here and sometimes wiped out animals and plants.

Sometimes, these asteroids crash into Earth, making huge holes called craters. Here are five of the biggest craters caused by asteroid crashes:

1. Vredefort Crater: It's the biggest one we know of, about 300 kilometers wide. This happened around 2 billion years ago in South Africa.
   

2. Chicxulub Crater: This one's about 150 kilometers wide and is in Mexico. It caused a massive extinction event about 66 million years ago, including the dinosaurs.
   

3. Sudbury Basin: It's about 130 kilometers wide and in Canada. This one happened around 1.8 billion years ago and scattered debris all over.
   

4. Popigai Crater: This one's in Russia and is about 100 kilometers wide. It happened around 35 million years ago and might have turned some of the ground into diamonds.
   

5. Manicouagan Reservoir: It's in Canada and was once 100 kilometers wide. It might have formed along with four other craters around the world about 215 million years ago.