* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Tswaing crater

Blobrana · L

SkyDive into Tswaing Meteorite Crater Open Air Music Art and Dance Festival

Blobrana · L

Tswaing Crater

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Blobrana · L

Tswaing Meteor Crater, Gauteng

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Tswaing Meteor Crater

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Blobrana · L

Tswaing Meteorite Impact Crater

Blobrana · L

RE: Tswaing crater

Blobrana · L

Comet McNaught had swung by southern skies to dazzle us with its twinkling tail of ice, gas and dust. Scientists had promised that it was to be brightest comet visible from Earth in 30 years. My nephew - a 9-year-old with more questions to ask than a game of Trivial Pursuit, was enthralled … and spooked! As our eyes searched for McNaught on the western horizon above Joburg on a hot January evening, he asked: "What happens if it falls down to Earth?"
Well, what would be left if this chunk of ice, 5km in diameter, smashed into Earth? Perhaps some clue is offered by a 220 000-year-old crater site just north of Pretoria, Tswaing, one of the best-preserved impact craters on our planet.

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Tswaing (formerly known as Pretoria Saltpan crater) is a meteor crater in South Africa.
It is 1.13 km in diameter and the age is estimated to be 220,000 ± 52,000 years (Pleistocene). The crater is exposed to the surface.
The name Tswaing means Place of Salt in Tswana.

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Latitude: -25.40843°S, Longitude: 28.08333°E

Blobrana · L

Plans to build a new international airport on the site of the Tswaing crater outside Tshwane have hit a hitch.
The airport, which is to be named in honour of the late Brenda Fassie, was proposed ten months ago.
It has been enthusiastically promoted as an alternative to the air traffic congestion at Johannesburg International and it would also provide a source of income to the local community.
Funding has already been tentatively approved from the Tshwane Development Fund and additional funds have also been earmarked for the project by the Lotto.
But environmentalists have now climbed on the bandwagon and started circulating an e-mail petition asking residents to stop the project from going ahead.
They claim the value of the site as an educational and environmental site is far more valuable.

"Save the Gat. Since 1993 we have battled to get this important site recognised. Only in 2001 did they decide to develop it into an ecotourism destination. That year, it became the Tswaing Meteorite Crater Museum. We must also be concerned about the resident plant species and wildlife, especially the 240-odd species of birds found at this site. What is happening here is pure political greed" - spokesman Ekardt Krap.

Mr Krap hoped that if the project went ahead another meteor would come and land on the same spot decimating the development.
It is believed that 220 000 years ago a blazing stony meteorite the size of half a football field slammed into the earth’s crust leaving behind a huge crater, 1.4 km in diameter and 200m deep.
Architects and planners believe this crater would be ideal for tarring and developing as an airport runway, as it is so flat.

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 19:10, 2006-04-05