Giant Antarctic Crater Caused By 'House Sized Asteroid'

'House Sized Asteroid' Hit The South Pole

A massive circular crater discovered at the South Pole was probably caused by a 'house-sized' meteor strike.

Evidence for the strike was first discovered in 2004, when an 'infrasound' recording was picked up on the King Baudoin ice shelf, on the Eastern edge of the continent.

Now a circular structure has been found by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research.

It was discovered on a routine research flight to measure magnetic field strength, when researchers noticed a large, circular shape with chunks of ice scattered about -- unusual for a usually flat area.

"I've never seen something like that before, on the ice," said Christian Muller, a geophysicist who discovered it.

Thought to be a crater, the 'structure' suggests that the southern land mass was hit by a substantial asteroid very recently. Check out the full story in the above video.

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