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A bolide is an extraterrestrial body that collides with the Earth. It explodes either on impact with the Earth's surface or at a low altitude above it, creating a large crater. It is a generic term that does not imply the nature of the impacting body, i.e., whether it is a rocky or metallic meteorite, asteroid, icy comet, etc.Some scientists suggest that a glancing collision with a planet about the mass of Mars, ca. 4.5 billion years ago, may have formed the Moon.
Since the Chicxulub bolide has been established as the cause of the extinction event that exterminated the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, bolides are frequently suggested as causes of major climate changes and mass extinctions. No further bolide-induced extinction events have been securely identified as yet, however. Compare Tollmann's hypothetical bolide for an example of bolide speculations in currently popular alternative geology.
Noteworthy bolide impacts include:
- Chicxulub crater off the coast of Yucatan
- Barringer crater in ArizonaArizona was the 48th state admitted to the United States and is part of the Southwest United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, south and east of the Colorado River, bordering New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California and Mexico. Its major cities ar, also known as 'Meteor Crater'
- Tunguska eventThe Tunguska event was an aerial explosion that occurred at 60° 55’ North, 101° 57’ East, near the Podkamennaya (Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Evenkia, Siberia, at 7:17 AM on June 30, 1908. The size of the blast was later estimated to be between 10 in SiberiaSiberia ( Russian: , common English transliterations: Sibir Sibir' is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan, constituting all of northern Asia, and extending eastward from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and southward from the Arctic Oc
- Chesapeake Bay impact craterThe Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater was formed by the impact of an extraterrestrial bolide that hit about 35. 5 million years ago, in the late Eocene Epoch. It is one of the best-preserved 'wet-target' or marine impact craters, and the largest impact crater
See also
- Near-Earth objectNear-Earth objects (NEO are asteroids, comets and large meteoroids whose orbit intersects Earth's orbit and which may therefore pose a collision danger. Due to their size and proximity, NEOs are also more easily accessible for spacecraft from Earth and ar
- Impact crater
Solar system Natural hazards
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