News Planetary Science

A meteor may have exploded over Antarctica 430,000 years ago

A similar impact today in a populated area would be devastating

illustration of an asteroid hitting Antarctica

A small space rock (illustrated) about 100 to 150 meters across shattered as it blazed through the atmosphere over Antarctica about 430,000 years ago, a new study suggests.

Mark A. Garlick / markgarlick.com

By Sid Perkins

- More than 2 years ago

Seventeen tiny particles recovered from a flat-topped mountain in eastern Antarctica suggest that a space rock shattered low in the atmosphere over the ice-smothered continent about 430,000 years ago.