Vredefort crater (IMAGE)
Caption
An impactor--most likely an asteroid--hurtled toward Earth about two billion years ago, crashing into the planet near present-day Johannesburg, South Africa. The impactor formed Vredefort crater, what is today the biggest crater on our planet. Using updated simulation data, University of Rochester researchers discovered the impactor that formed Vredefort crater was much larger than previously believed.
Credit
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin / University of Rochester illustration by Julia Joshpe
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