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Meteor Crater Visitor Center is open daily. Visitation hours are as follows:
Memorial Day to September 15th 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Rest of the year 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Thanksgiving Day open from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Closed Christmas Day
Located in Northern Arizona, a visit to the Meteor Crater Visitor Center provides you with an enjoyable educational experience in well maintained, modern facilities, which are kept spotlessly clean. The former Museum of Astrogeology has been remodeled and includes new displays on the never-ending process of impacts and collisions in our solar system. The Meteor Crater Interactive Learning Center includes twenty-four exciting exhibits, making it the most extensive and informative museum of its type on planet earth. Also included in the Learning Center are two interactive computer displays that contain information and high-tech graphics on space, meteorites and asteroids, the solar system, and the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that impacted Jupiter.
Our movie, "Collisions and Impacts" shows twice each hour in the state of the art, 80-seat wide screen movie theater. This informative and entertaining 10-minute feature, introduces broad themes displayed throughout the Interactive Learning Center. Impressive artifact exhibits include an actual Apollo space test capsule, which complements the American Astronaut Wall of Fame. Throughout the visitor center are many large meteorite specimens, which created Meteor Crater. A 1,406 pound meteorite fragment, the largest ever found in the area, is on display for visitors to view and touch. Four observation areas behind the Learning Center actually allow you to view the crater from inside the rim. Although Meteor Crater is over 4,000 feet across, and 550 feet deep, the observation telescopes allow you a close up look at points of interest in the crater. Daily guided rim tours allow those with proper hiking shoes to venture about 1/3 mile around the crater rim. The tours leave hourly from 9:15 a.m. until 2:15 p.m., and last about 1 hour, weather permitting.
The Meteor Crater gift shop is a clean, modern facility that is staffed by courteous, friendly employees. The store includes Meteor Crater souvenirs, quality unique gift items, and jewelry and rock shops. The rest rooms are the cleanest you will encounter on a trip across I-40.The Astronaut Memorial Park provides a clean, pleasant setting to just while away the time or you may want to have a picnic at the
Subway sandwich shop restaurant provides a tasty and nutritious menu. Our elevators and lifts provide access for everyone to the Learning Center, gift shop, and observation area immediately behind the Learning Center. Meteor Crater is privately owned. The visitor center was built and is operated by Meteor Crater Enterprises, Inc.Due to county regulations, pets cannot be allowed because food service is available at the facility.