Scientists have confirmed the site of a massive ancient meteor impact after an amateur astronomer spotted a mysterious 15-mile-wide circular formation on Google Maps while planning a camping trip in northeastern Canada.
Scientists have since determined that the ring-shaped depression marks the site of a meteorite impact from about 390 million years ago.
What happened?
According to Smithsonian Magazine, while using Google Maps to plot hiking routes for an upcoming camping trip, a strange land indentation caught the eye of Joël Lapointe. The formation immediately struck Lapointe as crater-like, though he doubted he had actually found an undiscovered one.
"I told myself, 'You haven't discovered anything, Joël, it's not possible, they must already know about this,'" he told the Canadian Press, cited by Smithsonian Magazine.
Lapointe's curiosity led him to dig deeper. After failing to find the formation in any public impact crater databases, he shared his discovery with crater experts.
Experts were initially skeptical of Lapointe's theory, but in October 2025 Gordon Osinski, a planetary geologist at Canada's Western University, led an expedition to examine the site, the Smithsonian Magazine reported.
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There, researchers found shatter cones and impact melt rock, two hallmark signs of an ancient strike. These helped geologists determine the 15-mile-wide site was formed by a meteor crashing into the location hundreds of millions of years ago.
Osinski said, as reported by Smithsonian Magazine, that most reports like Lapointe's tend to be false alarms.
"It just goes to show, while 9 out of 10 or 99 out of 100 might not be [impact craters], there could always still be that one that will surprise you," Osinski told CBC. "This is the first for me."
The newly confirmed crater was named Uhackatik after consultation with the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit. As Smithsonian Magazine reported, the team plans to present the discovery this August at the Meteoritical Society's 88th annual meeting in Germany.
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Why does it matter?
Scientists verify very few impact craters in a given year. With only about 200 known worldwide and roughly one or two new discoveries annually, as Smithsonian Magazine reported, citing the Canadian Press, Uhackatik is an especially notable addition because of its size.
Sites like this help scientists better understand how Earth's surface changed over vast spans of time and how collisions from space can reshape landscapes. They also allow researchers to compare Earth with other planets and moons, where impact scars are often preserved more clearly.
Researchers are now shifting from discovery to documentation. Presenting the crater at a major scientific meeting will give other experts a chance to review the evidence and help expand the record of one of Canada's newest confirmed impact sites.
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