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Possible Meteorite Leaves a Crater In Latvia
Several readers made sure we know about the possible meteorite that crashed into a field in northern Latvia yesterday. It left a crater 9m across and 3m deep according to the AP; 15m x 5m according to AFP; or 20m x 10m according to CNN. Sky News reporting includes a video recorded while approaching the smoking crater on foot; something is burning in its center. Xinhua has a brief mention with a good portrait of the crater in daylight, with people standing on its rim for perspective. Various outlets report that local authorities tested for radiation and found levels to be normal. Some quote an expert who estimates that, if it was a meteorite, it was probably around 1m in diameter when it hit. Update 16:40 GMT by SM: As many readers have pointed out, this has been declared a hoax.
Update: 10/27 16:41 GMT by KD : Swedish mobile phone operator Tele2 has now fessed up to pulling off the hoax.
Update: 10/27 16:41 GMT by KD : Swedish mobile phone operator Tele2 has now fessed up to pulling off the hoax.
..a chihuahua's head!
If it is a cylinder from Mars we need to nuke it immediately.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
It's been reported as a hoax.
"terrorism" and "pedophilia" are the root passwords to the Constitution
If it was Latveria, it'd probably be a precursor to Clobbering Time.
This is exactly what happened when the blob landed. I'm sure the local sherif just got absorbed.
Most local and near local news agencies now report it's fake.
Recent news posting reports:
"At this time, we don't think it was a meteorite," University of Latvia expert Ilgonis Vilks told reporters at the purported impact site in a field on the outskirts of the town of Mazsalaca, the Leta news agency reported.
He said the flames may have been caused by molten metal being poured into the crater in order to create an elaborate hoax.
*sigh*
Inspired by the balloon boy...
FTFA, I can't help but notice... so where is this object that made the ~65 foot crater in the earth? I don't see it or anything of even substantial size in the crater hole to show what made that. I get the breakup that happens in the atmosphere, but there's nothing there to show what made the impact. Weird and spooky. Glad it's close to Halloween or I'd throw my 'conspiracy' flag up in the air in a heartbeat.
Latvians?
Is Aluminum a part of some common explosive or something?
Meanwhile, Fox News reported that it left a crater the size of New Mexico and that aliens with Communist symbols had been seen leaving the area wanting to "find their leader".
1500 x 500m
>Scientists and armed forces from the northern European nation will inspect the crater and conduct an investigation.
Investigator #1: You there, the one with the vodka. Did you find anything?
Scientist #1: [shakes head]
Investigator #1: How about you? [points at soldier smoking a cigarette]
Soldier #8: No.
Investigator #1: What about that group over there [points to Latvians in the distance]
Latvians: "mes nav atrasts sudi"
(surprisingly, Google has a Latvian-to-English translator.)
And it was 20 miles across and 10 miles deep according to Fox News. Billions were killed and the earth was thrown out of its orbit. News at 11.
2.2 million of them in July this year, according to Wikipedia.
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
In the latest in a series of publicity students. Balloon boy was found in the crater, having flown there in a home made UFO and dug it out himself.
in Latvia the person who last leaves the airport to Ireland has to switch off the lights.
Would love to see the Latvian version of a cynical dock worker with an equally cynical teenage son and a screaming little brat by his side driving to Riga.
In Latvia, the tripods get you!
I for one am frightened of the fact that we allow a meteorite to leave the crater it created. Isn't it possible he's going to re-offend?
As Phil Platt pointed out in his book, meteors (unless they're really huge) are typically cold to the touch by the time they hit the ground. Even if it had enough kinetic energy to make a huge crater, the meteor would have pulverised itself and its fragments quickly cooled. Check out his whole site at http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/index.html
I'm calling hoax on this one.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
Nothing special
Men in Black
Meteorite should be cold ? But what makes a light ? Is that an Ice that makes up the light whan meteorite fall is observed? This one looks like a hoax as well: Tacoma Meteor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_OtbXmu9kg
Yeah, I assume that if it is not a fake it would have made some noise to dig that crater. Plus the site is too clean in the surroundings.
http://www.quasarcr.com/
Ares-1 is really a time ship and has left its impact crater before it has even taken off. Never mind Back to the Future, Back to Latvia FTW
If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
According to ABC, the US should be spending billions in cleanup.
Etc. etc. etc. Stop this flamewar. Some of the mods here are worse trolls than the trolls (parent) to begin with. Sheesh! -KD
I didn't realize thermite was explosive? I thought it just burned really hot? I've heard of it being used for certain types of welding processes (like railroad tracks), and I've heard of it being used during WW2 to disable enemy artillery pieces (either by welding the aiming mechanism for the gun so it couldn't be re-aimed, or by melting the barrel, so that it was fouled up enough that shells couldn't be safely fired out of the gun [because the shell might get stuck in the barrel, leading to the kinetic energy of the shell causing the barrel to explode]).
Can it also be made explosive? (I suppose anything that can produce enough thermal energy can somehow be turned into an explosive though - contain the thermal energy in some sort of vessel designed to explode when the internal pressure reaches a critical threshold?)
It just is.
The escape pod that was released from the imperial battlecruiser should have landed in Tatoonie. Leia pressed the wrong zip code and now it is landing in Latvia.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I live in Latvia and sometimes wonder if my entire country isn't a badly played hoax.
If so, don't pop the spheres inside! Or the plants will grow into bizarre forms, the insects will inflate, the trees will start to twitch, and everything will smell nauseating, turn gray, be eaten away and glow with that same unearthly color.
Good luck,
H. P.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
But, you missed Kansas.
Found spade marks on the side of the "crater". After about an hour of examining the crater, investigators concluded it was a fake. . Okay, it's Fox news, but there are other news sites stating the same thing.
modded -5: inhumoristic ;)
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Wouldn't it be more likely to be a (previously) unexploded bomb left over from WWII?
Interesting to see A. G. Holder's troll team here on Slashdot.
Experts say it is not real. Goole translation
Of course CNN had to report the biggest one.
Stephen King in "Creepshow".
If this is in fact a hoax, would it be possible to see the hoaxers preperations on the crater through Google Earth? I doubt that the satellites scan that region enough, but it's worth a shot...
... while Estonians had their meteorite crater for nearly three thousand years :-b
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
A quite nice country, actually. Used to have a lot of amber at the seashore.
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
In other, completely unrelated, news; parents of "balloon boy" report pitching a new reality TV series where they go and investigate strange meteorite crash sites all around the world, while racing other contests and competing in silly challenges.
"The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ~1984 George Orwell
Is the moon shooting back? 537
In other, completely unrelated, news; parents of "balloon boy" report pitching a new reality TV series where they go and investigate strange meteorite crash sites all around the world, while racing other contests and competing in silly challenges.
...and they travel to the meteorite sites in a baloon.
clearly this is retaliation by the Moon people for the attack NASA made on the Moon
It's obviously fake, if you've watched: Bad Boys, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Transformers 1 & 2, it's the same crater!.
Bay needed a realistic crater look for all those freaking meteors hitting the Earth. So he spent millions building that thing and now it has to appear in every one of his movies to recoup the costs until 2012--then he can lend it to Emmerich for his 2012 followup (hence we know the 1st 2012 will suck without having the real crater and all CGI).
News for Nerds, Stuff that matters?
*cough*
Hey, got any foil left over from your hat? You may need to wrap your logic up and put it in the fridge. I think it's started to spoil.
As well as phosphorus.
AccountKiller
Our national superhero does not approves of this trash-talking. http://www.tribine.lv/upload/11312/images/_origin_Cukmens-aicina-Janos-1.jpg
Latvian mobile phone operator Tele2 just confessed to staging the "Mazsalaca Meteorite" as part of it's new advertising campaign.
if only they had done a better fake.
Meteor finds YOU!
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I hear there are also some Russians.
...and a liberal. Go back to sodomizing other neanderthals with AIDS.
Wow, so similiar to Finland.
(help me)
Even though this was a hoax...what if a meteorite were to hit the LHC while they were conducting one of those black-hole experiments...
people speak in the video is not Latvian.