Rieskrater Museum

Ries Crater Museum
Rieskrater Museum
Location within Germany
Established 1990-05-06[1]
Location Eugene Shoemaker-Platz 1, 86720 Nördlingen, Germany
Coordinates 48°51′14″N 10°29′13″E / 48.853943°N 10.486919°E / 48.853943; 10.486919Coordinates: 48°51′14″N 10°29′13″E / 48.853943°N 10.486919°E / 48.853943; 10.486919
Type Geological museum
Director Prof. Dr. Stefan Hölzl[1]
Website www.rieskrater-museum.de

The Rieskrater Museum, sometimes known in English as the Ries Crater Museum, focuses on meteors and their collisions with Earth. The museum is housed in a 16th-century barn in Nordlingen, Germany which was part of the medieval city's center.[2] The area (Nördlinger Ries) is the location of a meteor's impact with Earth c. 15 million years ago and it might have been a double impact (Steinheim crater is nearby).[3][4] It has been recognized as such since the early 1960s.[2]

The museum's collection includes a genuine moon rock from Apollo 16 on loan from NASA in return for using the Nordlingen crater for training for the Apollo 14 astronauts due to its similarities to a moon crater.[5][6]

The museum is affiliated with the nearby Geopark Ries (UNESCO - International Network of Geoparks), whose mission is to protect the crater.

The museum opened in May 1990 and received its millionth visitor on 15 December 2012.[1][2]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 "1.000.000ster Besucher war eine Besucherin". W09.devweb.mwn.de. Retrieved 2013-01-20.
  2. 1 2 3 Pösges, G (September 2005). "The Ries Crater Museum in Nordlingen, Bavaria, Germany". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 40: 1555. Bibcode:2005M&PS...40.1555P. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2005.tb00417.x. Retrieved 2013-01-19.
  3. ↑ "Ries Crater Museum Nördlingen". Ries Crater Museum Nördlingen. Germany Bavaria Museums and Galleries. Retrieved 2013-01-19.
  4. ↑ Shoemaker, E. M.; Chao, E. C. T. (1961). "New evidence for the impact origin of the Ries basin, Bavaria, Germany". Journal of Geophysical Research. 66 (10): 3371–3378. Bibcode:1961JGR....66.3371S. doi:10.1029/JZ066i010p03371.
  5. ↑ Schulte-Peevers, Andrea (2010). Germany. Lonely Planet. p. 348.
  6. ↑ "Nördlingen". The Speedy Turtle. Retrieved 2013-01-21.


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