Posted on 10/26/2009 11:24:53 AM PDT by TaraP
RIGA, Latvia - A meteorite-like object crashed into a meadow in northern Latvia, creating a crater 27 feet (9 meters) wide and 9 feet (3 meters) deep, a geologist who visited the site said Monday.
Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center, said there was smoke coming out of the crater when he arrived at the crash site late Sunday in the Mazsalaca region near the Estonian border.
"My first impression is that, yes, it was a meteorite," he said. "All the evidence suggests this when compared to pictures of real meteorite craters."
He said the rim of the crater was slightly raised and there was a black-grayish scar at the bottom , both signs of a meteorite impact.
Experts outside Latvia said it was unusual for such a large meteorite to hit the Earth. The planet is constantly bombarded with objects from outer space, but most burn up in the atmosphere and never reach the surface.
In 2007, a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca in Peru, causing a crater about 40 feet (12 meters) wide and 15 feet (5 meters) deep.
Asta Pellinen-Wannberg, a meteorite expert at the Swedish Institute of Space Research, said she didn't know the details of the Latvian incident, but that a rock would have to be at least 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter to create a hole that size.
Henning Haack, a lecturer at Copenhagen University's Geological Museum said more information was needed to confirm that the crater was indeed caused by a meteorite. "With all these kind of reports we get there always is a pretty large margin of error," he said.
In Latvia, Nulle said a group of experts would examine the crater Monday and bring rock samples back to the capital, Riga, for testing.
Nulle rushed to the site after people in the area reported seeing a fiery object falling from the sky.
Inga Vetere of the Fire and Rescue Service said a military unit has tested the site and found that radiation levels are normal. There were no injures.
She said police have cordoned off the area to prevent souvenir hunters from taking away the soil.
It was a hoax.
Link here.
Obama’s approval numbers?
Hey, the original Steve McQueen BLOB was on Turner Classic last night. Coincidence?
Maybe a first of a swarm?
Latvians will make it another “drinking” holiday.
AP) – 56 minutes ago
RIGA, Latvia — Latvian emergency officials say a fiery object has fallen from the sky and created a large crater in a town close to the Estonian border.
Inga Vetere of the Fire and Rescue Service says the rock-like object was seen Sunday evening. It punched a hole 15 meters (50 feet) wide and 5 meters (16 feet) deep in a meadow next to a farm in northern Latvia.
Vetere said Monday that a military chemical unit has tested the object and found that radiation levels are normal.
She says police have cordoned off the area and are waiting for geologists from the University of Latvia University to arrive. She says the geologists will determine whether the object is a meteorite.
If the end of said metallic cylinder starts to unscrew itself ... be very concerned.
Elsewise ... It's just a meteorite impact.
To make a 9 m crater? Maybe, if you kick it out the door of a plane at 10,000 feet and it impacts going at terminal velocity, about 200 mph.
Objects coming from outer space are traveling much faster when they enter the atmosphere, about Mach 6 or 4500mph. At that velocity, a fist-sized object could make that size of crater.
The first thing that looked weird about this report of a “fiery object falling from the sky” was no mention of the loud boom(s) or sky haze from kicked up debris that a real meteorite strike would create.
Titicaca.... Titicaca... brings out the thirteen year-old in me.
It’s a hoax, according to Mr. Stinkulus.
Ogilvy? That you?
Perhaps a swallow lost it’s grip of the coconut it was carrying...?
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