Meteorite Strike Believed to Have Created Mammoth Crater in Antarctica

The crater, estimated to measure about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) across, was first spotted on December 20, 2014

  Area of broken ice in Antarctica argued to have been created by a meteorite strike

Not long ago, a scientist named Christian Müller set out to explore landscapes in Antarctica. Little did he know that he would make a rather odd discovery that would have him and other researchers scratch their heads with the intensity of a humanist trying to solve a physics problem. No disrespect to humanists intended.

Not to beat about the bush, the German explorer says that, while conducting an aerial survey of a remote region in East Antarctica, he chanced to spot an area of fractured ice. What drew his attention was the fact that this area was almost perfectly circular.

“I looked out of the window, and I saw an unusual structure on the surface of the ice. There was some broken ice looking like icebergs, which is very unusual on a normally flat ice shelf, surrounded by a large, wing-shaped, circular structure,” the researcher said in a statement, as cited by Live Science.

The fractured area appears to be a meteorite crater

Christian Müller says that he and his colleagues discovered this area of fractured ice in Antarctica towards the end of last year, on December 20. They estimate that the area measures some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in diameter and has been around for at least 25 years now.

Based on its appearance, the researchers argue that this circular region of broken up ice might just be a crater. More precisely, they claim that, all things considered, chances are that it was birthed by a meteorite that struck this remote region in Antarctica in recent years.

At first, the explorers pointed the finger at a meteorite blast documented in this corner of the world back in 2004. However, when the supposed crater was observed in a series of 1996 photos, this hypothesis was dropped. Presently, the researchers have no idea when exactly the crater was created.

Judging by the size of this alleged meteorite impact crater, it is said that it would have taken a celestial body measuring about 100 meters (325 feet) across to damage the ice in this part of Antarctica to such an extent. This is because impact craters are considerably bigger than the objects that create them.

A photo of the circular area of broken-up ice that Christian Müller and colleagues believe is a meteorite impact was shared with the public and is available below. Fair warning: you will have to seriously strain your eyes to see the odd structure that the researchers found, but the alleged crater is there alright.

Not everybody is buying the meteorite strike story

Specialist Peter Brown with the Center for Planetary Science and Exploration at Canada's University of Western Ontario argues that, all things considered, the chances that such a meteorite strike in Antarctica could go unnoticed in this day and age are pretty much slim to none.

Simply put, we have way too many high-tech machineries monitoring the skies and keeping tabs on things happening down on Earth for a humongous space boulder to crash into Antarctica and birth a mammoth impact crater without the event being recorded.

The good news is that Christian Müller and colleagues plan to return to the region and further explore this peculiar circular area of damaged ice. Hopefully, the researchers will manage to figure out how this supposed crater came into being.

Photo shows the supposed impact crater