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A set of Antarctic coordinates once triggered a wave of online speculation: 80°34′08.4″S 30°05′19.3″W. Entered into a map, the location appeared to show a dark, elongated shape on the ice. Some viewers called it a crashed UFO; others saw an ordinary crevasse or ice fracture.
The image is real as a piece of map imagery, but the extraordinary interpretation was never independently verified. Here is how to inspect the location with current Google tools—and what the original report actually supports.
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How to check the reported location in Google Maps
Google’s current instructions are simpler than the wording used in older articles. You do not need to look for a menu item called Earth view in Google Maps. Open Google Maps and paste the coordinates into the main Search box.
- Open Google Maps in a desktop browser.
- Paste this DMS-formatted coordinate into the Search box:
80°34'08.4"S 30°05'19.3"W - Press Enter or select the search result.
- Zoom in and inspect the surrounding ice rather than judging the result from the initial map view.
Google accepts several coordinate formats, including decimal degrees, degrees-minutes-seconds, and degrees with decimal minutes. For this location, the equivalent decimal form is:
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-80.5689999999, -30.0886944444
Latitude must come first. The southern latitude and western longitude are negative when written as decimal degrees. Google documents the accepted formats in its coordinate-search help page.
Coordinate formats at a glance
| Format | Example for the reported site |
|---|---|
| Degrees, minutes, seconds | 80°34'08.4"S 30°05'19.3"W |
| Decimal degrees | -80.5689999999, -30.0886944444 |
| General accepted format | 41.40338, 2.17403 |
Why the search may not look like the screenshots
The original story appeared in 2015, and Google’s mapping interface and imagery have changed since then. A current search may place a pin in a remote Antarctic area without producing the exact same view shown in old articles. That does not necessarily mean the coordinates were entered incorrectly.
Google says current imagery is displayed automatically, while older imagery is accessed through Google Earth’s timeline when historical coverage exists. Historical imagery is not guaranteed for every location or date. Consequently, a present-day view cannot automatically reproduce an older screenshot.
There is another practical limitation: much of Antarctica is not covered like an ordinary street-mapped destination. You may be looking at satellite or aerial imagery with limited detail, image seams, shadows, compression artifacts, and different capture dates. Those factors can make cracks and ridges appear unusually object-like.
The most common coordinate mistakes
If Maps sends you somewhere unexpected, check the entry before drawing conclusions.
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- Reversed order: latitude goes first and longitude second. Swapping them produces a different location.
- Wrong signs: south and west must be negative in decimal notation. The DMS letters
SandWalready provide that direction. - Comma-decimal notation: use a period for decimal values.
41.40338, 2.17403is valid in Google’s example;41,40338, 2,17403is not a valid equivalent. - Invalid ranges: latitude must fall between -90 and 90, and longitude between -180 and 180.
- Malformed DMS: minutes and seconds must be valid values. Do not accidentally type a minute or second value of 60 or more.
For this sighting, the safest copy-and-paste options are the exact DMS string or the negative decimal pair shown above.
What the 2015 report claimed
The story that circulated online was published by TechWorm in 2015. It described an image that appeared to show a UFO crash in Antarctica and attributed the discovery to UFO enthusiast Valentin Degterev. The report quoted an estimate that the apparent object was roughly 204 feet across.
That number was an estimate attributed to Degterev—not a survey measurement, an official technical assessment, or an independently verified dimension. The article also did not provide evidence that the shape was an aircraft, that a crash had occurred, or that the object was extraterrestrial.
The report itself presented competing interpretations. Some readers and skeptics thought the feature looked like an ice crack or crevasse. That explanation was not conclusively proven either, but it is a reminder that an unusual shape in low-detail polar imagery does not identify its cause by itself.
UFO, ice crack, or image artifact?
There are several reasons to be cautious when interpreting the feature:
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- Shape alone is weak evidence. Crevasses, melt patterns, exposed rock, shadows, and stitching boundaries can form long, curved or symmetrical shapes when viewed from above.
- There is no scale in the viral image. Without a reliable measurement reference and known image geometry, a visual estimate of 204 feet is only approximate.
- One image does not show a crash. A crash claim would normally require supporting evidence such as debris, an impact pattern, a documented observation, or independent imagery.
- Map imagery is not automatically a live photograph. It may have been captured at an unknown date and processed from multiple image tiles.
- Repetition is not confirmation. Many articles and social posts repeating “Google Maps shows a crashed UFO” may all trace back to the same unverified image and report.
The responsible conclusion is narrower: the published coordinates identify a remote Antarctic image that some viewers interpreted as a UFO-like structure. They do not establish that Google Maps shows a crashed spacecraft.
When 3D or Earth imagery does not load
If the location opens but the 3D view fails, the problem may be technical rather than geographic. Google says full Maps 3D imagery and Earth features require a current version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. JavaScript must be enabled, and some browsers or graphics configurations block WebGL.
In Chrome, Google’s documented JavaScript route is:
More → Settings → Advanced → under Privacy and security, Content settings → JavaScript → Allowed.
The exact labels can vary between Chrome versions. If 3D remains unavailable, update the browser, try another supported browser, disable extensions that interfere with scripts, and check whether hardware acceleration or WebGL is being blocked. Google lists additional requirements in its Maps 3D troubleshooting documentation.
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Can historical imagery settle the question?
It might help compare how the feature looks across dates, but it cannot by itself prove what the feature is. Open Google Earth and use the historical-imagery timeline if one is available for the location. Compare the shape, nearby ice patterns, shadows, and apparent position across dates.
If the feature changes with image seams or disappears when the imagery source changes, that may point to a processing or coverage issue. If it persists in independent images, that would make it a more durable geographic feature—but still would not identify it as a spacecraft without further evidence.
Google’s guidance makes an important qualification: historical imagery is not available for every place or every date. An absent timeline therefore does not confirm or disprove the original report.
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What are the coordinates of the alleged Antarctic UFO site?
The coordinates published with the 2015 report are 80°34′08.4″S 30°05′19.3″W. In decimal notation, they are approximately -80.5689999999, -30.0886944444.
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Open Google Maps and paste 80°34’08.4″S 30°05’19.3″W into the main Search box. You can also use -80.5689999999, -30.0886944444.
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Does Google Maps confirm that a UFO crashed in Antarctica?
No. The published report describes an ambiguous image and competing interpretations. It does not provide independent imagery analysis, official confirmation, or evidence that the object was extraterrestrial.
How large was the alleged object?
The 2015 report quoted an estimate of roughly 204 feet across. That was an enthusiast’s estimate, not an independently measured or verified dimension.
Could the feature be an ice crack?
That was a commonly reported alternative interpretation. The article did not conclusively prove the ice-crack explanation, but ice features, shadows, and image-processing artifacts are plausible reasons for an unusual shape in satellite imagery.
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Bottom line: The coordinates lead to the Antarctic location discussed in the 2015 UFO story, and you can still test the claim by entering them directly into Google Maps. But the available report supports only the existence of an ambiguous map image—not a verified crash, aircraft, or alien craft. Treat the 204-foot size estimate and UFO identification as speculation, and remember that current Google imagery may not match an old screenshot.
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