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A teenage astronomy enthusiast has discovered a long-lost ancient Mayan city using the unlikely combination of constellations and Google Earth.

William Gadoury has succeeded where centuries of explorers have failed by revealing the settlement.

The 15-year-old has a deep interest in the civilisation, and in his research found that there was a direct correlation between the stars and the locations of the Mayan cities.

The Quebec, Canada native analysed 22 Mayan constellations and found that they had aligned their 117 cities with the positions of the stars.

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The Mayans, who originated in the Yucatan around 2600 BC, rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador, and northern Belize.

Many of the sites of their ancient dwellings have been uncovered by modern explorers - but William's research showed him that one star didn't appear to have a corresponding city.

Using Google Earth and images from the Canadian Space Agency , he calculated the 'missing' city on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, reports Journal de Montreal .

When looked at online images, a pyramid and about thirty ancient buildings were spotted, partially hidden, in the dense forest.

Canadian Space Agency liaison officer Daniel de Lisle says there are features which suggest there's something under the trees.

“There are enough items to suggest it could be a man-made structure," he told The Independent , and added in praise of William's work: "Linking the positions of stars to the location of a lost city along with the use of satellite images on a tiny territory to identify the remains buried under dense vegetation is quite exceptional."

(Image: Google Earth / Canadian Space Agency)

William, who became interested in the Mayans reading their apocalypse prophesies in 2012, has named the lost city K’aak Chi, or Mouth of Fire, and it could be one of the five largest Mayan cities on record.

“I did not understand why the Maya built their cities away from rivers, on marginal lands and in the mountains,” he told the Journal de Montreal.

“They had to have another reason, and as they worshipped the stars, the idea came to me to verify my hypothesis."

As for seeing it for himself, William can't wait.

“It would be the culmination of my three years of work and the dream of my life,” he said.