Overview
- NASA’s Landsat 9 captured the striking view on Sept. 20, 2026, bringing new public attention to the Spider Crater in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.
- The oval impact structure measures about 13 by 11 kilometers and its spider‑like central pattern of sandstone ridges spans roughly 4 kilometers across the raised central uplift.
- Field mapping since the 1960s documented diagnostic impact signs such as ubiquitous shatter cones and tilted rock stacks that shifted the interpretation away from an earlier volcanic idea.
- A 2021 mineral study of 453 zircon grains found unevenly distributed shock damage, a pattern scientists say is consistent with asymmetric shock from an oblique strike rather than a straight‑on hit.
- The site remains remote and access is restricted by pastoral and Aboriginal land tenure, no direct radiometric impact age has been obtained, and regional erosion of about a kilometer means the visible ridges are the deeper core of a once larger crater.