Because of its unusual appearance, a strange spider-shaped landform in Western Australia has caught attention.
Known as Spider Crater, this geological feature was formed by a meteorite impact and shaped by hundreds of millions of years of erosion, according to NASA .
The crater is located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Geologists believe the unusual pattern is the remains of a central uplift. This is the raised part of a crater floor that forms when the ground rebounds after the powerful shock of an impact. For decades, scientists tried to understand how Spider Crater formed. Some believed that it had a volcanic origin. Scientists have also studied shocked quartz and zircon crystals found in the sandstone. Laboratory analysis of these minerals may help them understand the angle at which the meteorite struck the ground. The exact date of the impact remains unknown.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the NASA-USGS Landsat 9 satellite captured an image of Spider Crater on September 20, 2026. The entire impact structure is oval-shaped and measures about 13 kilometres long and 11 kilometres wide. Its spider-like central section measures around 4 kilometres across.
