Astrophysicists Vahagn Gurzadyan (Yerevan Institute of Physics) and Sverre Aarseth from the University of Cambridge in the UK have discovered a meteorite crater on Mount Ararat.

An article on the discovery will be published in the February issue of OBSERVATORY British scientific magazine. However, after appearing on the University Cornell website in November 2010 the news has already spread around the world.

The crater is at an altitude of 2100 meter, at coordinates 39˚ 47' 30''N, 44˚ 14' 40''E. According to description, it is 70-meter in diameter and 15m-deep. The scientists believe that the crater can be a result of meteoroid impact, volcanic eruption, but its glacial origin is excluded.

Vahagn Gurzadyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that the region is a closed area for the public, but local authorities displayed respect towards the scientists and allowed them to enter the closed part of the mountain.