* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Sirente crater

Blobrana · L

The Sirente crater is a small shallow seasonal lake in Abruzzo, central Italy. The lake is located at the center of the Prati del Sirente, a mountainous highland north of the Sirente massif in the Apennines, 13 kilometres from the small village of Secinaro. In the late 1990s, the peculiar appearance of the ridge drew the attention of geologist Jens Ormö, a Swedish impact crater specialist. Ormö set up a research team (the Sirente Crater Group) together with two colleagues from the International Research School of Planetary Science of Pescara (IRSPS), Angelo Pio Rossi and Goro Komatsu. The lake was suggested to be just part of a larger crater field comprising about 30 individual depressions in the Sirente area. However, the "crater field" has recently been proposed to be the result of human activity.
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Blobrana · L

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Latitude: 42.176998°N, Longitude: 13.595712°

Blobrana · L

A team of geologists believes it has found the incoming space rock's impact crater, and dating suggests its formation coincided with the celestial vision said to have converted a future Roman emperor to Christianity.

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Blobrana · L

Did a meteor over central Italy in AD 312 change the course of Roman and Christian history?
A team of geologists believes it has found the incoming space rock's impact crater, and dating suggests its formation coincided with the celestial vision said to have converted a future Roman emperor to Christianity.
It was just before a decisive battle for control of Rome and the empire that Constantine saw a blazing light cross the sky and attributed his subsequent victory to divine help from a Christian God.

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Blobrana · L

The Sirente crater field of more than 20 extremely well preserved structures was discovered during the late 1990s and was originally though to be due to a very recent meteoritic impact (about 1500 years ago).
However, further investigations now points to it being a water reservoir for human pastoral activity. Another plausible alternative is that it is periglacial feature (i.e. Pingo).

42°10'37.24"N 13°35'46.38"E

The largest crater, filled with water, has a maximum rim-to-rim diameter of 140 meter.
A prominent ridge encircles the lake.
No meteoritic fragments have ever been found.

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