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3 Ton Meteorite Stolen

morpheus83 writes "Russian news agency Interfax is reporting that thieves have stolen a three-ton meteorite from the yard of the Tunguska Space Event foundation, whose director said it was the part of meteor that caused a massive explosion in Siberia in 1908. The massive three tonne rock was bought to Krasnoyarsk after an 2004 expedition to the site of the so-called Tunguska event- a mysterious mid air explosion over Siberia in 1908 was 1,000 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The foundation's director Yury Lavbin claimed to have discovered the wreckage of an alien spacecraft during the expedition."

36 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. I am thinkink.... by spookymonster · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....vas Moose and Squirrel?

    --
    - Despite popular opinion, I am not perfect.
    1. Re:I am thinkink.... by Spudtrooper · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, obviously the rock was made of kryptonite, which leads to one prime (bald) suspect...

    2. Re:I am thinkink.... by Surt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It takes time to move thousands of tons of rock, even with the best equipment. Especially if you're interested in not causing further cave-in. I mean, we could nuke the mine, and get down to the miners no problem. But their odds of survival would be considerably lower using this strategy.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    3. Re:I am thinkink.... by nmb3000 · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, obviously the rock was made of kryptonite, which leads to one prime (bald) suspect...

      Look, I know he's Slashdot's favorite whipping boy, but would it be possible to leave Ballmer out of just one discussion!?

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
    4. Re:I am thinkink.... by camusflage · · Score: 3, Funny

      Look, I know he's Slashdot's favorite whipping boy, but would it be possible to leave Ballmer out of just one discussion!?

      Nope. Not Ballmer. My money's on Karl Rove. This rock of kryptonite dissappears and he resigns? Well, isn't that con-VEEEEEEEEEEEn-ient? His reason of "spending more time with my family" rings completely hollow, as one has to have a soul to enjoy family, and according to Wikipedia, Rove sold his in a deal to get a SECOND term for GWB. More likely, he's going to be using it in a plot to taint consumer products to cause tree huggers, gays, strict constitutionalists, and other riff raff to keel over. My spidey senses tell me so.

      --
      The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
  2. How? by lanceleader · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How could someone steal a 3 tonne meteorite? I don't really see how the theft happened unnoticed.

    1. Re:How? by Notquitecajun · · Score: 5, Funny

      or even a wench to get it up on a trailer

      Oh, good grief, I'll just let the mispelling be the joke in and of itself...

    2. Re:How? by shotgunefx · · Score: 5, Funny

      I dunno, I remember a Cajun restaurant around the corner had a really cool giant wood alligator sculpture crawling out of the side of the building.

      About 15 ft up, It was about 7 to 8ft long and weighed probably near 1000 pounds with the mount. Steel cables attaching it to the building amongst other things.

      One Sunday, a few guys showed up with a cherry picker and somehow detached, lowered it and carted it off. More than a few people saw it, but people just assumed they must be ok to cart it off, because who would steal a giant wooden alligator in the middle of the day?

      --

      -William Shatner can be neither created nor destroyed.
    3. Re:How? by Falstius · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If someone can steal a swimming pool full of water out of a backyard, one big rock out of a mostly ignored storage yard should be pretty easy.

    4. Re:How? by wumpus188 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Dude... this is Russia we're talking about. The meteorite probably just stole the thieves.

  3. Wreckage by necro81 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they were able to bring a 3-ton meteorite out of the tundra to the foundation headquarters, why couldn't they have managed to bring back even a scrap of the supposed alien wreckage?

    1. Re:Wreckage by fr4nk · · Score: 3, Funny

      And maybe it wasn't stolen but managed to flew away after the crew repaired it for nearly a century!

  4. what by JamesRose · · Score: 4, Funny

    the aliens have turned up to take it back claiming we store it?!!?! Liers!

  5. Unsolved? by moehoward · · Score: 4, Funny


    My current understanding of the Tunguska event was that there were still at least three really good potential theories and that they were still researching. Asteroid, meteorite, etc.

    Anyway, glad to see the Aliens got their rock back. No tin-foil-hat-wearing clown should own Alien property. If my car parks on an ant hill, the ants suddenly don't own my car. And this guy had no right to "own" that rock. This guy has got to get a clue regarding species relations.

    --
    "If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
    1. Re:Unsolved? by MobyDisk · · Score: 3, Informative

      Depends how fast it is moving. There's been research into using ballistics instead of nuclear because you can do more damage while leaving no fallout. You just have to accelerate something really really fast.

    2. Re:Unsolved? by jafiwam · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well, there IS a group that has picked out a "potential crater" that went previously unrecognized that has done some expeditions and drilling in the lake to see if they can establish this for sure.
      Apparently their idea is a large stony or iron object was the cause of the blast, but part of it made a big divot in the landscape downrange. Because of the nature of the ground, it didn't look like a crater, more like someone sticking a broom handle in the mud. (Cracks and a hole, not ejecta, rim and round hole.) I think the link came from Slashdot or Fark.

      But, based on surveys of the rest of the area looking for stony or iron debris have not found much.

      So I call "Typical Russian BS" on this as well.

      It would be a HUGE discovery to have pegged the event with some physical remains, that's a popular subject amongst science-geeks, conspiracy theorists and Slashdot.

      For something to have been sitting in a museum (not studied?!) for three years and not noticed makes this look like insurance fraud more than anything else.

  6. Sought for questioning by Alzheimers · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sought for questioning: Bald White Man, Tall, with typical evil genius features. Last heard uttering the phrase "I know how to stop Superman!"

  7. Tunguska Event by karlmiller · · Score: 3, Informative

    Wikipedia: Tunguska Event

  8. BadAstronomy has covered it already... by Cyberax · · Score: 5, Informative

    In short, this news is bullshit. Not a single meteorite remain from Tunguska event has been found.

    http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/08/12/thie ves-steal-giant-rock/

    1. Re:BadAstronomy has covered it already... by Al+Al+Cool+J · · Score: 4, Informative

      Covered? The "coverage" consists of:

      • the claim that no meteorite remain from Tunguska has ever been found (proof by bold assertion)
      • a comment that the writer couldn't find the foundation's website. Gee, I wonder if the writer was searching for websites in Russian?
      • mockery and sarcasm as soon as the subject of aliens arises. After all, scientists know that aliens can't be visisting the earth, because the Fermi Paradox says so.

      I don't think that's particularly good coverage

      Anyway, here is a 2004 story from what looks to be a reputable science website on the discovery of the meteorite, with photo

    2. Re:BadAstronomy has covered it already... by srmalloy · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, there is some conjecture that the meteorite may have been found, but not obtained. See this BBC science article; the premise is that Lake Cheko near the center of the region displays an unusual bottom formation with an anomalous feature about 10m down that might be a meteorite fragment. A fair degree of controversy exists, and an expedition is planned in 2008 to drill down to the anomaly to determine whether it is meteoritic in nature, which would settle the question.

    3. Re:BadAstronomy has covered it already... by Cyberax · · Score: 5, Informative

      1. That's a well known-fact. Several expeditions conducted by USSR have not found any remains except for small spheres of molten glass and rock (consistent with aerial explosion).

      2. Ok, Russian is my native language, so I searched for this 'foundation'. Here is the original news: http://www.radiomayak.ru/tvp.html?id=87757&cid=

      This foundation is called 'Fond Tungusskogo Kosmicheskogo Fenomena' in Russian. So I've searched information about it in the most popular Russian search engine (it understands Russian morphology and works much better than Google): http://www.yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=%D2%F3%ED%E3% F3%F1%F1%EA%E8%E9+%EA%EE%F1%EC%E8%F7%E5%F1%EA%E8%E 9+%F4%E5%ED%EE%EC%E5%ED+%F4%EE%ED%E4

      This is the report about the initial "discovery" of this stone: http://www.membrana.ru/articles/misinterpretation/ 2004/08/10/223900.html

      One of the first entries: http://www.newslab.ru/news/174070/print - basically, this "foundation" was being kicked out of a museum.

      After that, there was exactly ZERO publications in reliable magazines about this discovery. For me, this smells of pseudoscience.

    4. Re:BadAstronomy has covered it already... by Enigma2175 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Covered? The "coverage" consists of:



      • the claim that no meteorite remain from Tunguska has ever been found (proof by bold assertion)
      • a comment that the writer couldn't find the foundation's website. Gee, I wonder if the writer was searching for websites in Russian?
      • mockery and sarcasm as soon as the subject of aliens arises. After all, scientists know that aliens can't be visisting the earth, because the Fermi Paradox says so.

      I don't think that's particularly good coverage


      Anyway, here is a 2004 story from what looks to be a reputable science website on the discovery of the meteorite, with photo

      Hmm, the PhysOrg story is just a press release by the foundation, there is an official statement in the comments below the story stating "this new theory was announced at the press conference on results of the recent expedition to the crash site. It is not our own conclusion, but theory made by scientists who claim they found some proving evidences. As scientists, we truly believe that even some irrational theories have the right to be announced."

      If the Bad Astronomer is not good enough for you, how about articles from Space.com and MSNBC which were written in August 2004, when the foundation claimed to have found the alien spacecraft parts. Neither article gives much credence to the claim that the team's claimed dicovery. The foundation said at the time that they would be providing evidence (the recovered "spacecraft parts") but 3 years later they have yet to do so. The Bad Astronomer did not write a lengthy article because any rational being already knows that this foundation is full of shit. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and they have provided none.
      --

      Enigma

  9. Useless by The-Bus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Someone tell the thieves that no matter how many walls they cross with it in England, the rock won't turn into Claire Danes, er, Yvaine.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  10. Yeah right. by dtml-try+MyNick · · Score: 3, Insightful

    To my best knowledge it was never cleared up what exactly caused the accident in the first place..

    And now, almost a 100 years later, we suddenly get to hear that they lost a 3 ton meteor (how the hell do you lose a 3 ton rock?) and oh yeah, btw, that was the meteor that caused the incident!....
    No worries, we had it lying in our backyard all the time, never felt a urge or saw the reason to let the rest of the world know....

    Yeah, right.

    --
    Life starts at the end of your comfort zone.
  11. Re:Please, end the meme by Wavicle · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, Asteroid-stealing Overlords welcome you!

    --
    Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
    Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
  12. It's the ooze, stupid by krou · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait a second, it's all so much clearer now.

    Obviously, Yury didn't bring the alien ship back because he himself is possessed, and the alien-Yury decided it would be much smarter to bring the meteorite back and tell a few oligarchs that it was filled with oil! Yes! So they go and steal it for their own ends, but they'll all get possessed, and the black ooze will be walking in the corridors of Russian power. And all this when there is talk of a new Cold War developing with the West.

    Coincidence? I think not.

    --
    'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
  13. The joke's on us by Blobule · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think someone is Putin us on!!

  14. The problem is by Bryan+Bytehead · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the whole thing is fake.

    They haven't recovered anything from that blast, let alone a 3 ton meteorite.

    --
    Bryan
  15. Why you chain up your $500Million lawn ornament by veranikon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Despite prevailing suspicions that a group of mutant little girls whizzed off with the rock to build their Help-the-Town-and-Make-It-a-Better-Place machine, don't forget that meteorite rock is pretty scarce, and can fetch a pretty penny/ounce.

    Martian Meteorites have sold for $85k/ounce, and this source claims $3600/troy ounce for more garden variety space rocks. This is more valuable than gold, platinum, maybe comparable to Rhodium.

    So, (3tonnes = 128,602.986troy ounces)*$3600/ounce = $467 Million, just sitting around in your backyard. No chain, or Kryptonite lock, or even post-it note saying "please don't steal." Just asking for trouble from the neighbor kids, they were.

  16. Have they checked Ebay? by chill · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ebay has a whole section dedicated to just meteorites.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  17. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  18. It wasn't stolen... by Cheefachi · · Score: 4, Funny

    It hatched!

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    An engineer is someone who spends 3 hours trying to solve a 2 hour problem in 1 hour - Anonymous
  19. Re:In other news... by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 3, Funny

    A local teenager, who spent most of his time in the basement reading Slashdot, was kidnapped.

    His mother has issued a desperate offer of $20,000 and a complete collection of Star Trek memorabilia to the kidnappers to keep him. "I just want my basement back", said the distraught woman.

    --
    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  20. Mirror! by antdude · · Score: 3, Informative

    The link is showing errors. Here is a mirror.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  21. Re:one prime (bald) suspect... by macraig · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hey, I resemble that remark! What are you implying?