Latvia Hit by Large Meteorite?

[Eldritch]

Meteorite-like object falls in Latvia

RIGA, Latvia -- A meteorite-like object crashed into a meadow in northern Latvia, creating a crater 27 feet (9 meters) wide and 9 feet (3 meters) deep, a geologist who visited the site said Monday.

Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center, said there was smoke coming out of the crater when he arrived at the crash site late Sunday in the Mazsalaca region near the Estonian border.

"My first impression is that, yes, it was a meteorite," he said. "All the evidence suggests this when compared to pictures of real meteorite craters."

He said the rim of the crater was slightly raised and there was a black-grayish scar at the bottom - both signs of a meteorite impact.

Experts outside Latvia said it was unusual for such a large meteorite to hit the Earth. The planet is constantly bombarded with objects from outer space, but most burn up in the atmosphere and never reach the surface.

In 2007, a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca in Peru, causing a crater about 40 feet (12 meters) wide and 15 feet (5 meters) deep.

Asta Pellinen-Wannberg, a meteorite expert at the Swedish Institute of Space Research, said she didn't know the details of the Latvian incident, but that a rock would have to be at least 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter to create a hole that size.

Henning Haack, a lecturer at Copenhagen University's Geological Museum said more information was needed to confirm that the crater was indeed caused by a meteorite. "With all these kind of reports we get there always is a pretty large margin of error," he said.

In Latvia, Nulle said a group of experts would examine the crater Monday and bring rock samples back to the capital, Riga, for testing.

Nulle rushed to the site after people in the area reported seeing a fiery object falling from the sky.

Inga Vetere of the Fire and Rescue Service said a military unit has tested the site and found that radiation levels are normal. There were no injures.

She said police have cordoned off the area to prevent souvenir hunters from taking away the soil.

Link. (http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1300305.html)

[Baron Samedi]

Did it hit Inese's house?

[Treffie]

Did it hit Inese's house?

Yes, things have gone eerily quiet, haven't they? :confused:

[Eldritch]

Did it hit Inese's house?

Even if it did, you didn't seriously think that'd keep her down ?!?

[Treffie]

Update

-----------------------

Latvian experts say meteorite crater was hoax

The Associated Press
RIGA, Latvia -- Scientists investigating a large crater initially believed to have been caused by a meteorite said a closer analysis Monday revealed it was a hoax.

Experts in the Baltic country rushed to the site after reports that a metorite-like object had crashed late Sunday in the Mazsalaca region near the Estonian border.

"This is not a real crater. It is artificial," Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center, said after inspecting the site on Monday.

Earlier Uldis had said his first impression late Sunday was that the 27-foot (nine-meter) wide and nine foot (three-meter) deep crater had been caused by a meteorite. He said there was smoke coming out of the hole when he arrived.

Uldis and other experts who examined the hole in daylight on Monday said it was too tidy to have been caused by a meteorite.

"It's artificial, dug by shovel," said Girts Stinkulis, a geologist at the University of Latvia.

Dainis Ozols, a nature conservationist, said he believes someone dug the hole and tried to make it look like a meteorite crater by burning some pyrotechnic compound at the bottom. He added he would analyze some samples taken from the site.

Sigita Pildava, a spokeswoman for the State Police, said it wasn't immediately clear whether police would open an investigation into the hoax.

Inga Vetere of the Fire and Rescue Service said they received a call about the alleged meteorite on Sunday evening from an eyewitness. She said a military unit was dispatched to the site and found that radiation levels were normal.

Experts outside Latvia said it would be unusual for such a large meteorite to hit the Earth. The planet is constantly bombarded with objects from outer space, but most burn up in the atmosphere and never reach the surface.

In 2007, a meteorite crashed near Lake Titicaca in Peru, causing a crater about 40 feet (12 meters) wide and 15 feet (five meters) deep.

Asta Pellinen-Wannberg, a meteorite expert at the Swedish Institute of Space Research, said she didn't know the details of the Latvian incident, but that a rock would have to be at least three feet (one meter) in diameter to create a hole that size.

Henning Haack, a lecturer at Copenhagen University's Geological Museum, said when it comes to alleged meteorite crashes, "there always is a pretty large margin of error."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1300305.html

[Inese]

Did it hit Inese's house?
No but the next one hits your ass and then you have two holes :rolleyes2: Dork!! It is not funny --- we have little friends and relative in the region and i had worry that it was a serious accident when i was reading the title in the news you know!!? But nothing happened and i am glad now. Stupid hoax really. Large meteroite O.o

[The Lawspeaker]

Alright- cut it out.

Well- we can be very glad that this was a hoax because the damage could have been substantial. Remember Tunguska (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event#Earth_impactor) ?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Tunguska_event_fallen_trees.jpg


Although the meteor or comet burst in the air rather than directly hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 megatons<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">[4]</sup> to as high as 30 megatons<sup id="cite_ref-shoe_4-0" class="reference">[5]</sup> of TNT, with 10–15 megatons the most likely<sup id="cite_ref-shoe_4-1" class="reference">[5]</sup>—roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb tested in late February 1954, about 1,000 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and about one-third the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">[6]</sup> The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 square miles). It is estimated that the shockwave from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">[7]</sup> This possibility has helped to spark discussion of asteroid deflection strategies.

Suppose that this would have been real... just think about for a moment what could have happened. Latvia is no remote Tunguska..:coffee:

[Allenson]

Maybe Hors did it. :cool:

[Groenewolf]

Of course it is good news that it is only a hoax. Now the question remains who made it. And lawspeaker that one was most likely a larger rock. If it was a real one the damage would have been much less then when that happened.

[Inese]

Yes it is a hoax but the story made me thinking about it :eusa_eh:You know, the title says "Latvia hit by large meteorite " and i imagine what castastrophe happens if a real meteorite hit my country or other countrys!! Very many people i like a lot, my home land and our Latvian folk,culture and infrastructure would be killed forever and from a second to another all is total different!! But it can happen every second and humans are helpless , i tell you it is a frightening thought.
A life without my parents, family and friends is unthinkable in my mind! Really if all the people i love would die in a acident then i dont want to life on. Too much pain for one small person!! I have often fears of losing important people and it is not good for me.

[Loxias]

I wonder what happened in this guy's head. He must have been really bored.

[Mesrine]

Did it hit Inese's house?

No, the meteorite didn't hit Germany. :D

[Tabiti]

Some people are hit by meteorites every day;)

[Manifest Destiny]

No, the meteorite didn't hit Germany. :D

Well, technically, a meteorite didn't hit Latvia, either.

[Mesrine]

Well, technically, a meteorite didn't hit Latvia, either.

Well, technically, the fake "crater" is still in Latvia, not Germany.

[Osweo]

This thread's got too technical for me. :(

[Psychonaut]

Douchebaggery has been moved to its home in the Big Fight (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?p=123967#post123967). If you have douchebaggery flowing from your fingertips and just can't stop it, please keep it confined there.

Thank you,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Psychonaut

[Eldritch]

I wonder what happened in this guy's head. He must have been really bored.

Now it seems it was some kind of publicity/advertising stunt for the cell phone operator Tele2. Apparently they wanted to see how quickly the news about the "crater" would spread.

http://www.hs.fi/kuvat/iso_webkuva/1135250300780.jpeg

[lei.talk]

Recent Impact-Events (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event#Recent_pre-historic_impact_events) http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/meteoran.gifhttp://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/planit2b.gif


Originally Posted at the nordish portal
this web-site was so interesting
that i did not open a book
until i had read the entire site.


oops . . . . :-(
http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/oopsiee.gif (http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/)
http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/ (http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/)


may you enjoy it
as much as i did.i have a five-foot-wide inflate-able globe
(from these wonder-full people (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?p=41194#post41194))
that is marked with the dates and known directions
of over two-hundreds of impacts
both pre- and historical - some biosphere-destroyingly massive,
others only destroy villages
or inspire religions.

i was hoping to inflate my globe-of-disaster,
un-cap my magic-marker
and add a new one. :(

it would have been the girl-child (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5849)'s introduction.

[esaima]

there are some pics of the "meteorite" in an Estonian newspaper
http://www.postimees.ee/?art=179893&g=321#13426