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3 Ton Meteorite Stolen

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-in-frat-boys-basement dept.

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."

13 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 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
      /)
  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 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?

  4. 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!"

  5. 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 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.

  6. 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)
  7. The joke's on us by Blobule · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think someone is Putin us on!!