question: Why do all the other rocky planets in photos look covered in craters from meteors, yet earth doesn’t seem to have any?
comment: Thinner or lack of atmosphere and no precipitation/flowing water on their surface. First, anything that is smaller than one of those Extinction event asteroids that are larger than a bus burns up in our atmosphere. There are several factors (size, speed etc.), but to generalize. Anyways, most of the meteors that hit Earth burn up/explode harmlessly in our atmosphere and don't make it to earth to _make_ a big crater. Second, water precipitation and erosion. There ARE lots of asteroid craters on earth, but where there's sufficient rainfall, the natural course of erosion has worn down the crater walls and filled in the rest. [That one in Quebec is a good example.]( URL_0 ).. imagine how big that impact must have been.
passages: In the 2010s it was determined that something struck the surface of Mars, creating a spattering pattern of larger and smaller craters between 2008 and 2014. In this case the atmosphere only partially disintegrated the meteor before it struck the surface.
  
  Section::::Overview.:Radiation.
  
  Radiation exposure is a concern for astronauts even on the surface, as Mars lacks a strong magnetic field and atmosphere is thin to stop as much radiation as Earth. However, the planet does reduce the radiation significantly especially on the surface, and it is not detected to be radioactive itself.
   Venusian craters range from to in diameter. There are no craters smaller than 3 km, because of the effects of the dense atmosphere on incoming objects. Objects with less than a certain kinetic energy are slowed down so much by the atmosphere that they do not create an impact crater.
  
  Section::::Surface geology of inner solar planets.:Earth.
   Earth-based radar surveys made it possible to identify some topographic patterns related to craters, and the "Venera 15" and "Venera 16" probes identified almost 150 such features of probable impact origin. Global coverage from "Magellan" subsequently made it possible to identify nearly 900 impact craters. 
   Many planets and moons have impact craters dating back large spans of time. But new craters, perhaps even related to meteor showers are possible. Mars, and thus its moons, is known to have meteor showers. These have not been observed on other planets as yet but may be presumed to exist. For Mars in particular, although these are different from the ones seen on Earth because the different orbits of Mars and Earth relative to the orbits of comets. The Martian atmosphere has less than one percent of the density of Earth's at ground level, at their upper edges, where meteoroids strike, the two are more similar. Because of the similar air pressure at altitudes for meteors, the effects are much the same. Only the relatively slower motion of the meteoroids due to increased distance from the sun should marginally decrease meteor brightness. This is somewhat balanced in that the slower descent means that Martian meteors have more time in which to ablate.
   Crater counts give an important estimate for the age of the surface of a planet. Over time, bodies in the Solar System are randomly impacted, so the more craters a surface has, the older it is. Compared to Mercury, the Moon and other such bodies, Venus has very few craters. In part, this is because Venus's dense atmosphere burns up smaller meteorites before they hit the surface. The "Venera" and "Magellan" data agree: there are very few impact craters with a diameter less than , and data from "Magellan" show an absence of any craters less than in diameter. However, there are also fewer of the large craters, and those appear relatively young; they are rarely filled with lava, showing that they happened after volcanic activity in the area, and radar shows that they are rough and have not had time to be eroded down.
   Near-Earth objects are classified as meteoroids, asteroids, or comets depending on size and composition. Asteroids can also be members of an asteroid family, and comets create meteoroid streams that can generate meteor showers.
  
  , according to statistics maintained by CNEOS, 19,470 NEOs have been discovered. Only 107 (0.55%) of them are comets, whilst 19,363 (99.45%) are asteroids. There are 1,955 NEOs that are classified as potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).
   Kuiper Belt Objects display very weathered or in some cases very fresh surfaces. As the long distances result in low spatial and spectral resolutions, KBO surface chemistries are currently evaluated via analogous moons and asteroids closer to Earth.
  
  Section::::Aeronomy and atmospheric physics.
   When a near-Earth object impacts Earth, objects up to a few tens of metres across ordinarily explode in the upper atmosphere (usually harmlessly), with most or all of the solids vaporized, while larger objects hit the water surface, forming waves, or the solid surface, forming impact craters.
   Mars is scarred by a number of impact craters: a total of 43,000 craters with a diameter of or greater have been found. The largest confirmed of these is the Hellas impact basin, a light albedo feature clearly visible from Earth. Due to the smaller mass of Mars, the probability of an object colliding with the planet is about half that of Earth. Mars is located closer to the asteroid belt, so it has an increased chance of being struck by materials from that source. Mars is more likely to be struck by short-period comets, "i.e.", those that lie within the orbit of Jupiter. In spite of this, there are far fewer craters on Mars compared with the Moon, because the atmosphere of Mars provides protection against small meteors and surface modifying processes have erased some craters.
   Evidence leads researchers to believe that they result from an impact that goes through an icy layer and into a rocky layer. There may be more of them closer to the equator because the icy layer is not as thick there; hence more impacts will penetrate all the way through the icy layer and into the rocky layer. They are larger at all latitudes than single layer ejecta craters. The icy layer has been called by different names: cryosphere, permafrost, and ice-cemented cryosphere.
   Impact craters are the dominant geographic features on many solid Solar System objects including the Moon, Mercury, Callisto, Ganymede and most small moons and asteroids. On other planets and moons that experience more active surface geological processes, such as Earth, Venus, Mars, Europa, Io and Titan, visible impact craters are less common because they become eroded, buried or transformed by tectonics over time. Where such processes have destroyed most of the original crater topography, the terms impact structure or astrobleme are more commonly used. In early literature, before the significance of impact cratering was widely recognised, the terms cryptoexplosion or cryptovolcanic structure were often used to describe what are now recognised as impact-related features on Earth.
   Since Mars has an atmosphere that is relatively transparent at optical wavelengths (just like Earth, albeit much thinner), meteors will occasionally be seen. Meteor showers on Earth occur when the Earth intersects the orbit of a comet, and likewise, Mars also has meteor showers, although these are different from the ones on Earth.
   Section::::Surface features.
  
  Ida's surface appears heavily cratered and mostly gray, although minor color variations mark newly formed or uncovered areas. Besides craters, other features are evident, such as grooves, ridges, and protrusions. Ida is covered by a thick layer of regolith, loose debris that obscures the solid rock beneath. The largest, boulder-sized, debris fragments are called "ejecta blocks", several of which have been observed on the surface.
  
  Section::::Surface features.:Regolith.
   The cratering records of very old surfaces, such as Mercury, the Moon, and the southern highlands of Mars, record a period of intense early bombardment in the inner Solar System around 3.9 billion years ago. The rate of crater production on Earth has since been considerably lower, but it is appreciable nonetheless; Earth experiences from one to three impacts large enough to produce a crater about once every million years on average. This indicates that there should be far more relatively young craters on the planet than have been discovered so far. The cratering rate in the inner solar system fluctuates as a consequence of collisions in the asteroid belt that create a family of fragments that are often sent cascading into the inner solar system. Formed in a collision 160 million years ago, the Baptistina family of asteroids is thought to have caused a large spike in the impact rate. Note that the rate of impact cratering in the outer Solar System could be different from the inner Solar System.
   As on Earth, a low crater count on other bodies indicates young surfaces. This is particularly credible if nearby regions or bodies show heavier cratering. Young surfaces, in turn, indicate atmospheric, tectonic or volcanic, or hydrological processing on large bodies and comets, or dust redistribution or a relatively recent formation on asteroids (i. e., splitting from a parent body).
   Meteoroid collisions with solid Solar System objects, including the Moon, Mercury, Callisto, Ganymede, and most small moons and asteroids, create impact craters, which are the dominant geographic features of many of those objects. On other planets and moons with active surface geological processes, such as Earth, Venus, Mars, Europa, Io, and Titan, visible impact craters may become eroded, buried, or transformed by tectonics over time. In early literature, before the significance of impact cratering was widely recognised, the terms cryptoexplosion or cryptovolcanic structure were often used to describe what are now recognised as impact-related features on Earth. Molten terrestrial material ejected from a meteorite impact crater can cool and solidify into an object known as a tektite. These are often mistaken for meteorites.
   The craters are simple in structure: bowl-shaped with no flat bottoms and no central peaks. They are distributed evenly around Ida, except for a protrusion north of crater Choukoutien which is smoother and less cratered. The ejecta excavated by impacts is deposited differently on Ida than on planets because of its rapid rotation, low gravity and irregular shape. Ejecta blankets settle asymmetrically around their craters, but fast-moving ejecta that escapes from the asteroid is permanently lost.
  
  Section::::Composition.
   Ida is one of the most densely cratered bodies yet explored in the Solar System, and impacts have been the primary process shaping its surface. Cratering has reached the saturation point, meaning that new impacts erase evidence of old ones, leaving the total crater count roughly the same. It is covered with craters of all sizes and stages of degradation, and ranging in age from fresh to as old as Ida itself. The oldest may have been formed during the breakup of the Koronis family parent body. The largest crater, Lascaux, is almost across. Region 2 contains nearly all of the craters larger than in diameter, but Region 1 has no large craters at all. Some craters are arranged in chains.
   BULLET::::- Amazonian epoch (named after Amazonis Planitia): 1.8 billion years ago to present. Amazonian regions have few meteorite impact craters but are otherwise quite varied. Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the known Universe, formed during this period along with lava flows elsewhere on Mars.
  
  Section::::Surface geology of inner solar planets.:Ceres.
   Meteoroids also hit other bodies in the Solar System. On such stony bodies as the Moon or Mars that have little or no atmosphere, they leave enduring craters.
  
  Section::::Meteorites.:Frequency of impacts.
  
  The diameter of the largest impactor to hit Earth on any given day is likely to be about , in a given year about , and in a given century about . These statistics are obtained by the following:
  
  Over at least the range from to roughly , the rate at which Earth receives meteors obeys a power-law distribution as follows:
   Near-Earth object may be a fragment of Encke.
  
  Section::::Meteor showers.:Mercury.
   Crater morphology provides information about the physical structure and composition of the surface. Impact craters allow us to look deep below the surface and into Mars geological past. Lobate ejecta blankets (pictured left) and central pit craters are common on Mars but uncommon on the Moon, which may indicate the presence of near-surface volatiles (ice and water) on Mars. Degraded impact structures record variations in volcanic, fluvial, and aeolian activity.
   There are two geologically distinct plains regions on Mercury. Gently rolling, hilly plains in the regions between craters are Mercury's oldest visible surfaces, predating the heavily cratered terrain. These inter-crater plains appear to have obliterated many earlier craters, and show a general paucity of smaller craters below about 30 km in diameter.
   These features were caused by the collision of meteors (consisting of large fragments of asteroids) or comets (consisting of ice, dust particles and rocky fragments) with the Earth. For eroded or buried craters, the stated diameter typically refers to the best available estimate of the original rim diameter, and may not correspond to present surface features. Time units are either in thousands (ka) or millions (Ma) of years.
  
  Section::::Confirmed impact craters listed by size and age.:Young craters (10 ka or less).
   Less than ten thousand years old, and with a diameter of or more. The EID lists fewer than ten such craters, and the largest in the last 100,000 years (100 ka) is the Rio Cuarto crater in Argentina. However, there is some uncertainty regarding its origins and age, with some sources giving it as < 10 ka while the EID gives a broader  100 ka.
  
presuppositions: Earth doesn't have craters from meteors Earth has little to no visible craters from asteroids on it. 
corrections: Earth has many craters from meteors There are many asteroid craters on earth. 
raw_presuppositions: Earth doesn't have craters from meteors Earth has little to no visible craters from asteroids on it. 
raw_corrections: Earth has many craters from meteors There are many asteroid craters on earth. 