Vigie-Cratère – Discover possible impact craters from home

Most craters greater than about 6 km in diameter have probably been discovered, but dozens of craters between 1 and 6 km in diameter and perhaps a few hundred craters with a diameter of less than 1 km have yet to be discovered.

With the “Vigie-Cratère” platform, you can travel all around our planet, discover the world of impact craters, and help scientists to better reconstruct the history of collisions with Earth.

In recent years, a number of researchers and amateurs have identified potential impact structures, thanks to satellite imagery. Multiple databases exist and considerable fieldwork campaigns will need to be organized to explore all the identified structures. Vigie-Cratère offers you the opportunity to become a crater hunter, thanks to a new search protocol based on topographic data, so-called “shaded relief” which can reveal circular depressions invisible on standard satellite imagery.

The platform can be found at: www.vigie-cratere.org

Anyone interested - from schoolchildren to professional scientists.

The project runs without limit of time.

You can take part in the project online (www.vigie-cratere.org).

For all the structures identified, the participants have the possibility to vote on their nature by comparing satellite imagery and topographic data. It also offers the opportunity to enrich current knowledge about potential structures. For example, people living near a potential crater can upload photos and describe the area. The platform also provides the opportunity to exchange with other participants and to discuss the collected data and the preliminary results.

Connect to the platform (www.vigie-cratere.org) and start the crater hunt.

Dr. Ludovic Ferrière
Natural History Museum Vienna
Department of Mineralogy and Petrography
ludovic.ferriere@nhm-wien.ac.at

Vigie-Cratère – Discover possible impact craters from home

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