the biggest meteorite ever to hit Britain

Ball of fire: A meteorite to Earth rocket slide

the meteorite unleashed its destructive power on this starkly beautiful corner of North-West Scotland.
Yet it is only now that scientists have finally uncovered the evidence revealing the point of impact of the giant rock, which measured up to half-a-mile in diameter and left a crater eight miles wide.
Academics from Aberdeen and Oxford universities are convinced it was a meteorite that caused the highly unusual rock formations along a 30-mile stretch of coastline which now draw thousands of visitors each year.

Previously, it was thought the intricate deposits of brightly coloured and rare minerals found on the Stoer Peninsula were created by volcanic activity.

But geologists who spent two years studying tiny samples of rock from the mountain Stac Fada believe they have identified fragments of meteorite.

They say the centre of the crater would be where Ullapool now stands.

Ken Amor, of Oxford University's Department of Earth Sciences, said: "This is the most spectacular evidence for a meteorite impact within the British Isles found to date.

"If there had been human observers in Scotland 1.2billion years ago, they would have seen quite a show.

"The massive impact of the meteorite would have melted rocks and thrown up an enormous cloud of vapour that scattered material over a large part of the region around Ullapool.

"The crater was rapidly buried by sandstone, which helped to preserve the evidence.

"What we have discovered about this meteorite strike could help us to understand the ancient impacts that shaped the surface of other planets, such as Mars."