Meteorite impact site one of the best-preserved in the world
Some time in the last several thousand years, a rare metallic meteorite smashed into Earth near the borders of what is now known as Egypt, Sudan and Libya. The 10-tonne chunk of iron likely generated a fireball and plume that could be seen over 10,00-km away. “The crater is certainly less than 10,000 years old — and potentially less than a few thousand,” said a scientist researching the crater. “The impact may even have been observed by humans.” The well-preserved site was discovered by mineralogist Vincenzo De Michele, who found the crater on Google Earth in 2008. Since then, his team has organized an expedition to the crater which is deep in the Egyptian desert, where they collected data that can be used, among other things, for risk assessment of small asteroids that approach Earth.