A massive crater, 25 kilometers in diameter, long hidden in the dense forests of Quebec, has been confirmed by geologists as the result of a meteorite impact. The discovery was made by Joel Lapointe, an amateur astronomer, who was using Google Maps to find a camping spot in the remote Cote-Nord region in 2024. While examining the area near Lake Marsal, he noticed a circular pattern that resembled an impact crater. His observations prompted a group of French researchers to consider the site as a potential impact structure during a meeting of the Meteoritical Society later that year. This led to the involvement of Gordon Osinski, a planetary geologist from Western University and director of the Impact Earth database, who would later lead a field expedition to the site. In October 2025, a team of four researchers, including Osinski and French geophysicist Pierre Rochette, traveled to the site by seaplane. Due to the rugged terrain, the plane could not land, and the team had to carry all their equipment across about 50 meters of water to reach solid ground. Once on site, they faced challenging conditions such as marshes, dense vegetation, and swarms of insects. Osinski described the expedition as one of the most difficult of his career, despite his extensive field experience across six continents. The crater, named Uhackatik after consultations with local representatives and the Ekuanitshit Innu council, was confirmed through various geological evidence. The structure is a complex crater with a central uplift and high cliffs marked by columnar jointing. Researchers identified percussion cones—cone-shaped fractures formed by shock waves from the impact—as well as convergent isotopic dating methods. These included analyzing the paleomagnetic orientation of rocks and the isotopic composition of lead in zircons trapped in melted rock from the impact. These methods consistently pointed to an age between 370 and 400 million years, with an estimated central date of 390 million years. Uhackatik is the largest confirmed impact crater discovered since the 31-kilometer Hiawatha crater found under Greenland’s ice in 2018. Osinski noted that an object of similar size striking Quebec today would cause "regional devastation on a scale that would erase major cities from the map, with global climate impacts." Although Osinski is a member of NASA's first Artemis geology team, the remote and difficult access to Uhackatik rules out its use as a training site for astronauts. Instead, astronauts train on the more accessible and younger Kameshtashtan structure, also known as Mistastin Lake, in Labrador. The researchers presented their findings at the 88th annual meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Frankfurt in August 2026, and the impact origin of the crater is now considered practically confirmed. The official recognition by the Meteoritical Society is still pending, but it is expected to be formalized soon.