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	Dimpled Chad Seen From Space By Andrew Bridges Pasadena Bureau Chief posted: 11:53 am ET 01 December 2000

Thanks to lingering uncertainties about the outcome of the Nov. 7 presidential election, "dimpled chad" has become - for better or worse - a fixture on the political landscape in the United States.

A big deal, those bits of ballot.

But not that big a deal, especially when compared to far larger dimples on other landscapes.

So move over, dimpled chad: Make room for dimpled Chad.

For the African nation of Chad boasts a dimple so large that at last, uh, recount, it measured more than 10 miles (17 kilometers) across.

And dont blame a dull stylus wielded by a myopic Palm Beach retiree for creating this monster, known as the Aorounga impact crater.

No, it took the impact of a hefty asteroid or comet hundreds of millions of years ago to form the concentric ring structure seen in the Saharan reaches of northern Chad.

To see enlarged views of the crater, click on each of the following thumbnail images:

A Look at Dimpled Chad

This 1994 radar image shows the Aorounga crater, which has eroded through the years, revealing the scar the impact left on the landscape.

French scientists confirmed Aorounga was indeed an impact crater in 1992, when they identified shocked minerals at the site.

Scientists propose that the crater is actually but one in a chain of impact sites, which can be seen alongside Aorounga here.

Aorounga appears at the center of this image, while the crater to the right is the Holocene stratovolcano Emi Koussi.

The dark streaks overlaying Aorounga crater are valleys carved out by thousands of years of wind erosion.

Aorounga is a popular target for spaceborne photographers. Shuttle astronauts snapped this image in 1991.

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