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This Could Be the First Meteor Crater Found by an Amateur
Newser • • science
Key Points:
- Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe discovered a previously unknown 15-mile-wide impact crater in Quebec's Côte-Nord region while planning a camping trip on Google Maps.
- The crater, estimated to be around 390 million years old, was confirmed by a 2025 expedition led by Western University planetary geologist Gordon Osinski and three other researchers.
- The team found definitive impact evidence such as impact melt rock and rare shatter cones, marking one of the only 27 known meteor craters in Canada and about 200 worldwide.
- The crater, named Uhackatik with input from the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit, will be formally presented to the Meteoritical Society next month.
- Osinski highlights this as possibly the first confirmed impact crater discovery initiated by a member of the public, encouraging others to trust their observations regardless of expertise.
