A video with a view of a meteorite site shaped about 50,000 years ago has gone viral on Tiktok.
The photographs were captured through a hiker on Tiktok known as @BlackhikeQueen and has collected more than 819,000 views since sharing on Dec. 9.
An overlay note on the video reads, “Did you know that the world’s best-preserved meteor crater is in Arizona?” The photographs were captured at the Crater Meteor grassland, depending on the location shared with the station.
The clip shows a panoramic view of the vast hollow landscape of the crater site under a bright blue sky, with clouds shown along the horizon in the distance.
A caption shared with the post says “I’ve never seen anything like it before,” noting that there is a museum and coffee shop available at the site, while the entry fee includes a tour of the site.
I’ve never seen anything like it before. There’s a museum, coffee shop, tour and more on site. A fee is required for entry which includes a tour. Have you been here before? #Arizona #arizonahikes #travelarizona #arizonaoutdoors #outsidearizona #flagstaffarizona #flagstaffaz #solotravel #solohiking #traveltiktok #travel #travellife
Alanna Lecher, an associate professor from Florida’s Lynn University, told Newsweek that “what makes Meteor Crater so special is that it’s in great condition. Since 70 percent of the Earth is covered by the ocean, most asteroids end up in the ocean, leaving no trace behind for us to see. Other asteroids that hit land have their craters erased by erosion from rain, growing plants and other natural processes.”
Located just minutes from Interstate 40 and the old Route 66 near the city of Winslow in northern Arizona, Meteor Crater is “the world’s best-preserved meteorite impact site on Earth,” says the Visit Arizona, the website of the Arizona Office of Tourism.
Meteors—or “shooting stars”—are the “visible paths of meteoroids that have entered the Earth’s atmosphere at high velocities,” explains NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).
A meteoroid is an asteroid or comet fragment that orbits the Sun and has an approximate size between 10 microns and a meter or so, according to the CNEOS.
Found in Arizona’s high desert, Meteor Crater was formed from a collision that hit America’s southwest region around 50,000 years ago “with the energy of more than 20 million tons of TNT,” Visit Arizona notes.
Lecher, whose area of focus is “biogeochemisty,” which looks at how humans, biology, and geology alter the chemical cycles of the Earth, told Newsweek: “Since Meteor Crater is in a relatively dry area with little vegetation growth, it looks relatively the same as it did when the dust settled from its impact approximately 50,000 years ago.
“Now people can visit this amazing site in Arizona and be impressed by not only its unique look but also its size at 0.75 miles across and 600 feet deep,” the professor added.
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.
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Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel, health, home/interior design and property/real estate. Soo covered the COVID-19 pandemic extensively from 2020 to 2022, including several interviews with the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Soo has reported on various major news events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the U.S. Capitol riots, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Canadian elections, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Soo is also a South Korea expert, covering the latest K-dramas—including the breakout hit Squid Game, which she has covered extensively, including from Seoul, the South Korean capital—as well as Korean films, such as the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Past Lives, and K-pop news, to interviews with the biggest Korean actors, such as Lee Jung-jae from Squid Game and Star Wars, and Korean directors, such as Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Celine Song. Soo is the author of the book How to Live Korean, which is available in 11 languages, and co-author of the book Hello, South Korea: Meet the Country Behind Hallyu. Before Newsweek, Soo was a travel reporter and commissioning editor for the award-winning travel section of The Daily Telegraph (a leading U.K. national newspaper) for nearly a decade from 2010, reporting on the latest in the travel industry, from travel news, consumer travel and aviation issues to major new openings and emerging destinations. Soo is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the journalism school of City University in London, where she earned a Masters in international journalism. You can get in touch with Soo by emailing [email protected] . Follow her on Instagram at @miss.soo.kim or X, formerly Twitter, at @MissSooKim .Languages spoken: English and Korean