Scientists confirmed the astronomer’s suspicions during an expedition to this site in Quebec. This discovery represents a rare case in which a reported new crater turned out to be real.
Margarita Bassi |
July 21, 2026
An amateur astronomer thought he had found an impact crater on Google Maps. Then an expedition to this place confirmed that he was right.
Screenshot from Google Maps
Amateur astronomer Joël Lapointe was browsing Google Maps, planning walking routes for a hike, when he noticed something strange in the area. It looked like a large depression, 15.5 miles wide, forming a ring in northeastern Canada. In his opinion, it looked like a meteorite crater.
“I said to myself, ‘You haven’t discovered anything, Joël, it’s impossible, they must already know about it,’” Lapointe tells the magazine. Canadian PressMarieke Glorier-Strickman. But the pit didn’t appear in any of the crater databases Lapointe searched for, so he sent his guess to experts.
Researchers have now confirmed the existence of a large impact crater in the Cote-Nord region of Quebec, as reported by Rachel Watts of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). After visiting the site in person, geologists discovered that a meteor actually crashed into the landscape some 390 million years ago.
Key evidence emerged when Lapointe’s theory reached Gordon Osinski, a planetary geologist at Canada’s Western University.
Osinski, who runs the university’s Impact Earth website, which hosts a database of craters, initially doubted the discovery. But in October 2025, he nevertheless led an expedition to a potential crash site to investigate the situation. There the team had to overcome inhospitable terrain.
“It was one of the hardest expeditions I’ve ever done—and I’ve done 25 expeditions to the Arctic and six continents,” Osinski says. Living SciencePandora Dewan. “The terrain was incredibly uneven and rugged, plus (there were) a lot of insects.”
But scientists discovered more than just errors. On the second day of the mission, they discovered fracture cones—cone-shaped patterns formed when shock waves pass through rock and are directed at an angle to the point of impact. They also discovered large areas of impact melt rock, which forms as a result of the intense pressure and temperature from an asteroid or meteorite impact.
Molten Rock Impact
Gordon Osinski
Cone of destruction
Gordon Osinski
In his work with Impact Earth, Osinski often receives reports of suspected craters that end up being false alarms. But this case turned out to be rare and accurate. “It just goes to show that while 9 out of 10 or 99 out of 100 may not have (impact craters), there may always be one that surprises you,” Osinski told CBC. “This is the first time for me.”
The discovery, he adds, is likely among the largest craters discovered in recent memory. Only about 200 meteorite craters have been discovered worldwide, Osinsky says. Canadian Press that only one or two are discovered each year.
Quick Facts: Excellent Craters
In August, the team will present their discovery at the 88th annual meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Germany. After negotiations with the Ekuanitshita Innu Council, the governing body representing the indigenous people of the region, the crater was named Uhakatik.
It’s the latest addition to Canada’s long list of confirmed impact craters: The country has more known meteorite craters than any other country, although its world record doesn’t mean Canada suffers more space impacts than other places. Instead, this difference reflects the very old and resilient bedrock of the area, which has preserved the landscape long enough for people to witness its history.
For his part, Lapointe seems delighted with the role he played in the crater’s discovery. “It’s not every day that the average citizen finds a 390-million-year-old crater,” he told Radio-Canada. “I encourage everyone not to ignore intuition or observation, even if it is not in your area of expertise.”