Gosses Bluff, Northern Territory, Australia

Gosses Bluff, Northern Territory, Australia

One hundred forty-two million years ago, an asteroid or comet slammed into what is now the Missionary Plains in Australia’s Northern Territory, forming a crater 24 kilometers in diameter. Today, like a bull’s eye, the circular ring of hills that defines Gosses Bluff stands as a stark reminder of the event.

This image was acquired by Landsat 7’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) sensor.

Image provided by the USGS EROS Data Center Satellite Systems Branch as part of the Earth as Art II image series