Sirente crater

The team concluded the meteorite struck the Earth with the force of a small nuclear bomb; approximately one kiloton in yield.

[4] In 2004 a group of geologists led by Fabio Speranza working in the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia hypothesized that the lake basin was excavated by humans in order to collect natural water for livestock.

[9] In 2005 Dr Francesco Stoppa from the Gabriele d'Annunzio University proposed that a rapid emission of mud and/or water could also be a potential cause for the basin's formation.

[11] A story, taken from the oral traditions of Abruzzo, concerning the region's religious conversion from Paganism to Christianity possibly records the impact event in the 5th century AD.

Not a breath of wind could be heard, nor a sheep bleating from the numerous herds, nor a rustle from the strong trees, nor a human sound.

After an endless period of time, when stars shone in the sky without the moon, a new breeze came to stir the leaves; sheep were heard again and the Mountain was dressed in the light of a new dawn.

[12] The location and contemporaneous formation of the Sirente impact has led some researchers to re-examine the historic occasion (the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312) when Constantine I was said to have had a vision prompting his conversion to Christianity.

He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, Conquer by this.

At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle.In a 2003 paper, Santilli, Ormö, et al. noted that, shortly before the battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine I and his military forces were camped only 100 km (62 mi) WSW from the proposed impact site.

[12] Though a coincidence between the two events is speculation, the hypothesis that the Sirente impact might have been mistaken for a divine act was widely reported in the media.