From a two-headed dog to a headless man, strange and wonderful objects are often seen on Google Maps.
But the latest sighting is possibly one of the strangest yet.
A mysterious “gate” has been discovered in Antarctica, just southeast of the Japanese-run Showa Station.
The discovery has sparked a number of theories on the Internet, including Bigfoot’s vacation home or a Star Trek shuttle.
Now scientists have revealed to MailOnline what the structure really is and say there is a simple explanation.
A mysterious “gate” has been discovered in Antarctica, just southeast of the Japanese-run Showa Station.
The discovery has sparked a number of theories on the Internet, including Bigfoot’s vacation home or a Star Trek shuttle.
The unusual structure was discovered by a Reddit user on Google Maps at coordinates 69°00’50″S 39°36’22″E.
Posting on the forum, they wrote: ‘Huge door in Antarctica?’, along with the coordinates.
The post has attracted a lot of attention, with hundreds of viewers flocking to the comments to discuss what the structure could be.
“Just a Boeing door blown up,” one user responded, while another wrote, “That’s actually Bigfoot’s vacation home.”
One user suggested it was the “gateway to Agartha,” while another claimed it could be a “large seed vault like the one in Svalbard, Norway.”
The unusual structure was discovered by a Reddit user on Google Maps at the coordinates 69°00’50″S 39°36’22″E.
The post has attracted a lot of attention, with hundreds of viewers flocking to the comments to discuss what the structure could be.
One user suggested it was the “gateway to Agartha,” while another claimed it could be a “large seed vault like the one in Svalbard, Norway.”
Unfortunately, the true identity of the structure is much less exciting than these theories might lead you to believe.
Professor Bethan Davies, Professor of Glaciology at Newcastle University, looked at the coordinates on Google Earth Pro, allowing her to see historical images.
“This feature is located in an area of fast sea ice in East Antarctica, just off the coast,” he told MailOnline.
‘There are a number of islands there and the water is quite shallow.
‘This is an iceberg that ran aground and is now stuck and melting in situ. Many other icebergs can be seen in the area.’
Professor Martin Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute, agreed with Professor Davies.
He told MailOnline: ‘This is simply a flow of ice around a solid subglacial obstacle, influenced also by melting and refreezing of ice and by katabatic winds.
“The ice is quite thin here, as evidenced by other nearby rock outcrops, so the bed’s influence on ice flow will be strong.
“It’s an interesting pattern, but not unusual or surprising from a glaciological point of view.”
Meanwhile, Professor John Smellie, a volcanologist at the University of Leicester, joked: “What would we do without conspiracy theorists?”
‘The image is not bright and I do not recognize the locality, but it seems to me that a small rock outcrop has been exhumed due to the decline of the ice.
‘It forms the “top” of the “door”. And there are two prominent parallel snow tails that form the sides of the “gate”. Snow tails show you the direction of the prevailing wind direction.
‘So, with good imagination, you generally get a weak and totally false door appearance.
“I’m pretty sure it’s just a natural phenomenon and there’s nothing to get excited about.”