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The giant “spider” in NASA’s Australian satellite image is Spider Crater, an ancient, heavily eroded meteorite-impact structure in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. Its apparent legs are sandstone ridges left standing as softer impact-shocked rocks wore away; the feature’s center is the remnant of a central uplift formed when the crater floor rebounded after impact.
What NASA’s satellite actually photographed
NASA Earth Observatory’s October 13, 2026 Image of the Day uses a scene captured by the NASA-USGS Landsat 9 satellite’s Operational Land Imager (OLI) on September 20, 2026. From orbit, Spider Crater appears as a broad oval depression with a smaller, many-legged shape near its center.
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The complete eroded impact structure is about 13 kilometers by 11 kilometers (8 by 7 miles). The spiderlike central portion is approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) across. Those figures describe different parts of the same landform: the first is the overall crater footprint, while the second is the central uplift and its radiating ridges.
Is the “spider” a structure built by people?
No. The legs are natural, light-colored sandstone ridges. Rocks around the impact zone did not erode at the same rate, so resistant sandstone remained as narrow ridges while weaker, fractured material was removed. Sunlight and the satellite’s viewing angle emphasize the ridges, making them look like a giant spider laid across the landscape.
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| Part of Spider Crater | Published size | What the measurement represents |
|---|---|---|
| Overall impact structure | About 13 × 11 km (8 × 7 mi) | The oval, eroded crater depression |
| Central spiderlike portion | About 4 km (2.5 mi) across | The raised central-uplift complex and its ridges |
| Central dome | Roughly 500 m (1,640 ft) | The innermost uplift described in NASA’s 2008 account |
The roughly 500-meter dome and the roughly 4-kilometer spider shape are not competing estimates. The dome is the compact core; the larger figure includes the surrounding ridges that create the recognizable “legs.”
What sits at the center?
At the center is an impact-generated central uplift, not a surviving meteorite, building or volcanic plug. In a large impact, the initial shock excavates and depresses the target rocks. The compressed crater floor then rebounds upward, producing a raised central area. At Spider Crater, later erosion exposed that uplift as the dome-and-ridge pattern visible from space.
- Impact: An extraterrestrial object struck sedimentary rocks in what is now the Kimberley region.
- Shock and deformation: The impact wave fractured and intensely deformed the rock layers.
- Rebound: The crater floor pushed upward, creating the central uplift.
- Erosion: Differential weathering removed softer material and left resistant sandstone ridges outlining the uplift.
How geologists established that it is an impact crater
The unusual shape initially led some researchers to propose a volcanic origin. Field investigations supplied evidence that volcanic explanations could not account for.
- Shatter cones: These fan- or cone-shaped rocks contain distinctive grooves produced by intense shock waves. They are known from meteorite and asteroid impact sites.
- Deformed sedimentary layers: Rock strata around the structure show the severe disruption expected from a high-energy collision.
- Shocked minerals: Laboratory studies of shocked quartz and zircon crystals provide microscopic records of the pressures and temperatures generated during impact.
Together, the field and laboratory evidence identifies Spider Crater as an eroded impact structure rather than a conventional volcanic feature.
How old is Spider Crater?
Its exact impact date is unknown. NASA places the event broadly between about 900 million and 600 million years ago, during the late Precambrian, also called the Neoproterozoic. That range is an estimate, not a precise age, so the image does not represent a crater with a known year of formation.
How the view has changed across NASA’s imagery
| Date | Instrument and platform | Image type or role |
|---|---|---|
| August 11, 2000 | ASTER on NASA’s Terra satellite | Earlier false-color view of the full feature |
| April 1, 2008 | Formosat-2 | High-resolution true-color close-up |
| September 20, 2026 | Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager | Scene used for NASA Earth Observatory’s October 13, 2026 feature |
Different sensors make different aspects easier to see. False-color imagery can separate rock and vegetation patterns, while a higher-resolution true-color image shows the surface appearance more directly. Landsat 9 provides the current broad satellite view that made the spiderlike geometry newsworthy again.
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What the image can—and cannot—tell you
The satellite image clearly shows the scale, symmetry and erosion pattern of the exposed landform. It does not reveal a preserved hole containing an intact impactor. Over hundreds of millions of years, erosion has altered the original crater, leaving a geological remnant rather than a pristine bowl.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsNor can the image alone supply an exact impact date. The 900–600-million-year estimate comes from geological investigation and laboratory analysis, while the satellite contributes the modern overhead view. The most defensible reading is therefore straightforward: Spider Crater is an ancient impact structure whose rebounded center and erosion-resistant ridges create the appearance of a giant spider.
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