Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Possible Meteorite Leaves a Crater In Latvia

Posted by kdawson on from the splatvia dept.

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.

42 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Smoking crater by nizo · · Score: 5, Funny

    If it is a cylinder from Mars we need to nuke it immediately.

    --
    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
    1. Re:Smoking crater by LifesABeach · · Score: 2, Funny

      And let me ask, was the farmer's name, "Grover-sky"? Please forgive me, Mr. Wells.

    2. Re:Smoking crater by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 2, Informative

      I suspect its the updated crop circle app
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8326483.stm

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  2. Hoax by NtroP · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's been reported as a hoax.

    --
    "terrorism" and "pedophilia" are the root passwords to the Constitution
    1. Re:Hoax by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Everything has been reported as a hoax at one time or another. Do you have a source?

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:Hoax by arose · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yep, apparently they found shovel and foot prints as well as rocks that have been dug around and aluminum powder.

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    3. Re:Hoax by hammeraxe · · Score: 5, Informative

      It has been reported as hoax, indeed. http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/zinatnieki-mazsalaca-visticamak-nav-nokritis.d?id=27621943 This is the original story in Latvian, although it does not seem very reliable to me. They claim that it is a strange coincidence that there was someone with a camera near the crash site, but hey, every kid's got a camera these days. I suppose we'll have to wait until the official investigation is over

    4. Re:Hoax by sopssa · · Score: 4, Funny

      Million Reasons Why Latvia Is The Best Country In The World

      After seeing that site, I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was some funny hoax. (warning: that site will make you browse it for the rest of the day :)

    5. Re:Hoax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's a self-supporting statement. Here's such a report if you still don't understand.

    6. Re:Hoax by ramunas · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well the hoaxiness of the incident is currently actively discussed. We'll know more when some actual scientists get to look at the thing. Meanwhile it's nice to be in the headlines for another reason than the economic meltdown.

      --
      ./R My blog
    7. Re:Hoax by mbone · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The rim looks pretty reasonable - new craters have raised rims (see, e.g., the Sedan crater).

      What does look a little suspicious is the edge of the rim - I would expect at least some debris sprayed out into the surrounding fields, which I don't see in the pictures. Also, the video from last night is suspicious - why would stuff at the bottom of the crater burn ? That should just be more dirt - meteorite impacts rarely cause fires, and craters rarely have burnable stuff at the bottom.

      If this isn't a hoax, I wonder if some World War II ordinance (say, a 500 lb bomb) couldn't have exploded ? Latvia was certainly fought over during the War (2 or even 3 times in places), and old explosives can become unstable and go off for little or no reason.

    8. Re:Hoax by CannonballHead · · Score: 2, Insightful

      every kid's got a camera these days.

      ... every kid in Latvia, too?

    9. Re:Hoax by sexconker · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Here's a Venn diagram.

      [(.)]

      [] = Every thing.
      () = Every X (kid).
      . =Every X (kid) that is Y (in Latvia).

    10. Re:Hoax by KenAndCorey · · Score: 4, Informative

      In English: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_re_eu/eu_latvia_meteorite

    11. Re:Hoax by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Bad Astronomer says it's fake.

      --
      [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
    12. Re:Hoax by Verdatum · · Score: 3, Funny

      I must say, I'm shocked and appalled. Please stop posting your disgusting perverted ASCII art on Slashdot. Some people read this stuff at work for chrissakes!

    13. Re:Hoax by AigariusDebian · · Score: 2, Interesting

      TELE2 have confessed that they supported the hoax as a PR stunt for their phone network.

  3. As Long As It's Just Latvia by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 4, Funny

    If it was Latveria, it'd probably be a precursor to Clobbering Time.

    1. Re:As Long As It's Just Latvia by mykepredko · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe it should have been noted that the Latveria's regent (and leading scientist), Victor Von Doom, was quoted as saying "Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!".

      myke

      --
      Mimetics Inc. Twitter
    2. Re:As Long As It's Just Latvia by gijoel · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why the fuck is this marked insightful? Don't you kids read comics anymore?

      And another thing get the hell off my lawn.

    3. Re:As Long As It's Just Latvia by Spazztastic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not since I discovered girls.

      Find a girl who reads comics. Problem solved.

      Get out.

      --
      Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
  4. Watch the local towns by INeededALogin · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is exactly what happened when the blob landed. I'm sure the local sherif just got absorbed.

  5. Aluminum powder? by JSBiff · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is Aluminum a part of some common explosive or something?

    1. Re:Aluminum powder? by arose · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think the main point was that it is not found in meteorites. Also, as the AC mentioned, it's part of thermite.

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    2. Re:Aluminum powder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The meteorite fell on a buried cache of thermite and ignited it. Everyone happy now?

    3. Re:Aluminum powder? by genner · · Score: 2, Funny

      The meteorite fell on a buried cache of thermite and ignited it. Everyone happy now?

      No....cause you yelled at me.

  6. Investigation by Migraineman · · Score: 4, Funny

    >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.)

    1. Re:Investigation by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google translator can't do most of grammar. As example, if you try to translate something on English to my language (Brazilian Portuguese), the grammar on process is killed without mercy. The same occurs on Brazilian to English

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
  7. Conflicting reports by Yvan256 · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.

    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.

  8. Re:LATVIA? AND SOMEONE NOTICED ?? by RaceProUK · · Score: 2, Informative

    2.2 million of them in July this year, according to Wikipedia.

    --
    No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
  9. Bad astronomy by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.
    1. Re:Bad astronomy by careysub · · Score: 3, Informative

      Wait, meteors that hit the ground are cold to the touch? That doesn't make sense - they enter the atmosphere, and as we know objects entering the atmosphere travel so fast that they get hot...real hot...so hot that our space ships need to have heat shields to keep the folks inside from getting burnt to a crisp...which makes it not cold to the touch. So when the rock hits the ground why would it become cold all of a sudden? Maybe if it sat around in cold climate for a while but after touch-down it should be very hot.

      There is a difference between a space vehicle, which is as light as possible and hollow, and a meteor which is solid rock (or, much more rarely, metal). The heat shield is thin and light (comparatively speaking) but keeps everything inside quite cool despite a very lengthy heating period (due to the shallow re-entry angle of manned vehicles, and most unmanned ones, which cannot stand severe deceleration forces).

      A meteor (one meter across or less) typically enters at a steep angle, decelerates rapidly (in several seconds) at a few hundred Gs, and becomes a rock falling under the influence of gravity through the lower atmosphere same as any other rock of similar size dropped from a high-altitude airplane.

      For those several seconds a very small part of the rock gets very hot indeed - a thin layer vaporizes, and a thin layer melts. But it is physically impossible for the bulk of the rock to get significantly heated in the few seconds of re-entry, conduction is far too slow. During the longer part of its descent (when it is simply falling through the air for a few tens of seconds), there is enough time for the thin molten surface layer to get cooled down to near normal temperatures by the cold airflow. Then when it hits the ground within a minute or two there is enough time for the icy cold interior to cool down the surface to frigid temperatures.

      The special effect of burning a pyrotechnic in the crater was perfect to take in the ignorant, but is laughable to anyone knowing something about meteors.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  10. Official response from Latvian goverment by sopssa · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nothing special

  11. Dialogue Heard Shortly after Impact by akpoff · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bug: Place projectile weapon on the ground.
    Edgar: You can have my gun, when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.
    Bug: Your proposal is acceptable.

    Men in Black

  12. This one looks like a hoax as well by HollyMolly-1122 · · Score: 2, Funny

    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

  13. Re:So... where's the object? by oldspewey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But you have to give full points for the sheer industriousness of the joke. Digging a pit 10m+ across is not an easy task. Back in my drunken-pranking days, I guarantee that me and my buddies would have said "fuck this idea, let's go find something easier to do" when that crater was maybe a couple meters across at best.

    --
    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  14. Latvia is a hoax by Myion · · Score: 5, Funny

    I live in Latvia and sometimes wonder if my entire country isn't a badly played hoax.

  15. Re:Found in the crater- by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 2, Funny

    Balloon boy was a hoax. The real child in the crater was baby superman.

  16. "Meteor sh!t...!" by bodland · · Score: 2, Funny

    Stephen King in "Creepshow".

  17. Re:Google Earth? by Lije+Baley · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, maybe if they were working on it 2-5 years ago at the exact moment the Google Earth shot was taken.

    --
    Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
  18. gotta love hollywood by recharged95 · · Score: 2, Funny

    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).

  19. Re:Hoax Hoax Hoax by TaggartAleslayer · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.