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Meteorite Crashes Through Cottage In Oslo

First time submitter Mastiff in Norway writes "Famous (in Norway) Norwegian astrophycisist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard is ecstatic after a meteorite was found in an urban cottage in Oslo this weekend. This is the 14th meteorite that's been found in Norway, and only the second that crashed through a roof. It is not certain when the crash happened, since the cottage hasn't been used all winter, but on the 1st of March a big ball of fire was observed over the southern parts of Norway, and it is thought that this may be one of the pieces from that entry into the atmosphere. Maybe it's time to replace those tin foil hats with helmets?"

6 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Re:He wouldn't be so ecstatic by dinfinity · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, the damage wasn't too bad actually. Pics: http://www.vg.no/bildespesial/spesial.php?id=8728

  2. Re:He wouldn't be so ecstatic by mbone · · Score: 5, Informative

    The same. In law, at least, it's not a religious concept; in some jurisdictions it is called "force majeure."

    IANAL, but these terms basically all seem to mean the same thing, events beyond your control. A war or even a strike can also qualify.

  3. Re:He wouldn't be so ecstatic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    He's a real fun guy. He is very enthisiastic about astronomy, and do a lot of public happenings when there are major astronomical events. Also ver supportive about anything that promotes astronomy and science.

    Trust me, my name also contains Ø. It's pronounced uh like in duh.

  4. Hodges Meteorite by Jonathunder · · Score: 4, Informative

    The 1954 Hodges Meteorite, which crashed into a house in Alabama, is the only one in recorded history to have actually hit a person. She survived, suffering only a bad bruising.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylacauga_(meteorite)

  5. Re:fascinating by BattleApple · · Score: 3, Informative

    The average velocity of meteoroids entering our atmosphere is 10-70 km/second. The smaller ones that survive the trip to the Earth's surface are quickly slowed by atmospheric friction to speeds of a few hundred kilometers per hour, and so hit the Earth with no more speed than if they had been dropped from a tall building. For meteorites larger than a few hundred tons (which fortunately are quite rare), atmospheric friction has little effect on the velocity and they hit the Earth with the enormous speeds characteristic of their entry into our atmosphere.

    source: http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/meteors/impacts.html

  6. ONLY the second? by beh · · Score: 3, Informative

    "This is the 14th meteorite that's been found in Norway, and only the second that crashed through a roof. "

    Who wrote this?

    Have you got any idea how "densely" populated Norway is?

    Sure, people won't be monitoring all of the countryside for meteorite impacts; but even then, I'm sure they get to see easily more than 7* the roof space area in non-roofed area during their day-to-day activities.

    So, among 14 meteorites, 1/7th has hit a house...?

    How many meteorites does the country get???