News Planetary Science

Hole from on high

Egyptian impact crater first spotted on Google Earth

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

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.

SAHARAN GROUND ZERO Analyses suggest this 45-meter-wide crater in southwestern Egypt, first spotted on Google Earth late in 2008, probably was formed in the last 5,000 years.