Saguaros, a giant canyon, dry heat and asteroids?

When most people think of Arizona, asteroids aren’t typically the first thing to come to mind.

The Grand Canyon state, however, is home to some of the latest work in asteroid research and detection, not to mention the best-preserved meteor crater in the world.

In honor of World Asteroid Day on Sunday, June 30, here’s a break down of some of Arizona’s most out-of-this-world asteroid related facts.

The best-preserved impact crater

The Meteor Crater, located east of Flagstaff, is said to be the best-preserved impact crater in the world thanks to Arizona’s dry climate. At nearly one mile across and 550 feet deep, the crater was created 50,000 years ago when an estimated 160-foot iron asteroid slammed into the Colorado plateau. The explosion was estimated to be equal to 10 megatons of TNT on impact.

You can touch the meteorite that created the Meteor Crater outside the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium in Tucson.

OSIRIS-REx and Bennu