Researchers poring over Google Earth images have discovered one of
Earth's
freshest impact craters--a 45-meter-wide pock in southwestern Egypt that
probably was excavated by a fast-moving iron meteorite no more than a
few
thousand years ago.
Although the crater was first noticed in autumn 2008, researchers have
since spotted the blemish on satellite images taken as far back as 1972,
says
Luigi Folco, a cosmochemist at the University of Siena in Italy. He and
his
colleagues report their find online July 22 in Science.
The rim of the Egyptian crater stands about 3 meters above the
surrounding
plain, which is partially covered with distinct swaths of light-colored
material blasted from the crater by the impact. These rays, which
emanate
from the impact site like spokes from the hub of a wheel, are what drew
researchers' attention to the crater, says Folco.
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