Articles in Meteorites
Safety from Meteorites / New SuperVolcano?
Models that have looked into the effects of a major meteorite impact have, until now, used a featuresless perfect sphere to represent Earth. A new model that incorporates the surface features of our planet has found:
…that the seismic waves resulting from the impact would have been scattered and unfocused, causing less severe ground displacement, tsunamis, and seismic and volcanic activity than previously thought.
So instead of the ripples in a swimming pool being quite uniform, we have ripples in say a small river, with some ducks, a fallen tree, and a pile of mud getting in the way. This means that there will be some areas, even reasonably close to the impact, that will survive intact. If there is ever going to be advanced warning of a large impact, such a model might be able to help humans choose the safest places to hide.
Uturuncu is an ancient volcano in southwest Bolivia. …
Meteor Carving, Circa 3000BC
Many independent researchers believe that something must of occurred in 3114BC to trigger the start of the Mayan Long Count calendar – and therefore any information about events from 5,000 years ago catch my eye – like this one:
A 5,000-year old rock carving in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region depicts a falling meteor, said archaeologists on Saturday.
A rock on the side of Dahei Mountain in the city of Chifeng has images of people, domed houses and a fire ball with a long tail falling from the sky engraved on it, said Wu Jiacai, head of the Inner Mongolia rock paintings protection association.
It’s a shame that news reports from China don’t usually come with images… I guess that the meteor could just as easily be a comet?
DNA Comes From Outer Space
I’m a fan of panspermia, particularly the idea the mushroom spores traveled to Earth and gave humans a little extra something. The concept was given a real boost this week with news that components of DNA, nucleobases, have been found in meteorites:
In laboratory experiments, Callahan and colleagues showed how the nucleobases could have formed inside meteorites. Simple chemical reactions involving ammonia, water and hydrogen cyanide — all ingredients found in meteorites — produced the wide range of nucleobases the scientists found in the space rocks.
…Scientists have also found other building blocks of life — most notably amino acids, the links that form proteins — inside meteorites.
While Bernstein said that it’s impossible to discern whether the first life on Earth was built on chemicals that fell from the sky, that possibility is now stronger. “These molecules are at the core of [life’s] blueprints,” Bernstein said of the nucleobases. “It’s possible that …
Rapid Magnetic Changes / Houston Dome / Another Tunguska
“a new study of ancient copper mines in southern Israel found that the strength of the magnetic field could double and then fall back down in less than 20 years.” This could be local, or global, they don’t seem sure. But it is certainly something scientists previously did not believe possible.
Why build bunkers when you can protect an entire city with a massive dome?
The concept would supposedly keep the city safe from a category-5 hurricane.
Tunguska was not the only explosion of its type last century – there’s actually a list of them at Wikipedia. A good candidate to add to that list is a powerful blast that struck British Guyana in 1935. An expedition “reported seeing an area some miles across where the trees had been broken off about 25 feet above their bases“, while numerous people witnessed a “large meteoroid/small asteroid entry“. One day a town or …
Meteoroid Tracking / New 2012 Drink / Missing Sunspots
NASA is installing a network of smart cameras across the USA to track fireballs and meteoroids. Soon there will be 15, and then they plan to expand nationwide. These cameras are automated and linked together so that they can triangulate paths and orbits. If NASA was expecting an influx of fireballs (and alternative media outlets are suggesting this is already happening), such data could prove to be important. But it could just be that NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office is wanting to he more helpful when they get phone calls from the public. More info at PhysOrg, and the official NASA site has live and historical images from the cameras.
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According to the website of Australia’s antidote to “energy drinks”, esc, if you are concerned about 2012, their drink will let you Escape into a zen state of mind!
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The latest in a long line of solar cycle theories has just been published …
Noah’s Ark / Facebook Game / Bolide Data
With state-funding, a Christian ministry will build a $150 million theme park, featuring a full-size Noah’s Ark, complete with live animals. There will also be a Tower of Babel. Can’t wait to take my family, and it is aiming to open in 2014.
Those 500 million Facebook users now have access to a game all about 2012 – War of 2012. After a magnetic pole shift and solar flares, you are a member of “a tribe that happened to survive the pandemonium aboard the Genesis Ark“. Apart from the back story and the name, it is yet another Civilization clone… Far more interesting would be a prepping game where you have 2012-like deadline to prepare.
Tunguska-like atmospheric explosions occur several times a year, and we know this because NASA satellites spot them. Data on these “bolide” will soon be released so that scientists worldwide can better study them.
Meteorite Strikes Central Java Home
Seems like Indonesia has become a meteorite magnet of late. The most recent:
The blast was reported to have damaged the roof, kitchen and dining room in the home of Suryono in Ngringo village, but no injuries were reported. State news agency Antara reported that the impact produced a loud bang and shattered several windows in the house. The heat generated from the blast reportedly melted several plastic objects in the kitchen and left the metal tableware hot.
Last April three Indonesian homes were damaged by what was presumed to be a meteorite, and last year the shock waves from a meteorite explosion also damaged homes in South Sulawesi, and a young girl there died of a heart attack.
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Meanwhile, in the USA, a Tennessee man missed being hit by a meteorite by just 10 feet.
Meteorite Strikes Colombia – Ignored by Media
It’s strange when you closely follow a topic, and and you only hear about a news item via an article claiming the media ignored it. But it isn’t unusual, take Project Censored for example, who inform us about such 201o stories as Nuclear Waste Pools in North Carolina and US Schools are More Segregated Today than in the 1950s, that you just didn’t hear about via mainstream media.
So, apparently a meteorite crashed into Colombia on September 6:
The Colombian media has been buzzing with eye witness accounts of the fireball, which caused a massive explosion at 3:15PM local time Sunday.
Andina.com reported that Bucaramanga Mayor Fernando Vargas confirmed that the phenomenon was a meteorite that left a crater 100 meters in diameter when it crashed into the earth in the San Joaquin municipality in Santander.
Colombian air force helicopters were commissioned to fly over the area to try to locate the source of …
Ohio Man Also Hit by Meteorite?
Following on from the man watching the cricket last week, if this in in fact a meteorite, then perhaps, just perhaps, we are seeing a rise in such phenomena…
An Ohio man claims he was hit in the shoulder by a chunk of meteorite falling from the sky Sunday night.
“I didn’t know what it was,” Pat Foraker said. “I thought somebody was playing a prank on me and threw something at me.”
“Hit me right here, I heard it,” he said. “It was like a whistling noise. It thumped my shoulder and landed in the swimming pool.”
The rock sliced the skin on Foraker’s shoulder, and was still warm when he plucked it out of the pool.
Geologists at Ohio State University will examine the rock, but believe it’s likely a meteorite.
Despite what the news report says, if you watch the video the University experts do not think it is a meteorite. Perhaps because …
Bosnian House is Meteorite Magnet
This, if true (and it appears to be), is the most extraordinary meteorite story I have ever come across.
Since 2007, the home of Bosnian man Radivoke Lajic has been struck by meteorites on SIX different occasions. According to the Telegraph, scientists from Belgrade University have validated the claims, and they are investigating possible magnetic field anomalies.
Despite having to reinforce his roof with steel, Radivoke has a marvellous attitude, and does not seem to be paranoid (I think I would be!):
“But these meteorites have brought happiness to our family as well, as we’ve met different people from around the world that were interested in it,” he said. ”And I have had so many visitors that I plan to make a small museum in my back garden.”
British Man Hit By Meteorite
Following on from the German lad who was struck last year, in England a cricket fan was hit in the chest by a fragment of a meteorite. Sussex man Jan Marszel saw the meteorite approaching as he drank beer watching Sussex against Middlesex in a county cricket match. The meteorite missed him, but broke in two when it crashed into the ground, with one piece bouncing up and striking him in the chest. Could there be an increase in small meteorites? The most recent example of an injury, prior to Gerrit Blank last year, was back in 1954.
Taurids in 2012?
We can expect increased activity to start any year now, in October and November, especially. Atmospheric bursts are already happening. There were at least two in 2009. We had a few minor impacts last year, too. It will be newsworthy when one happens over a populated area.
Steve Pace’s article is not sensationalist – I’ve kinda quoted him out of context.
Regardless, if the 2012 culprit is one that falls from the skies, it could be a Taurid meteoroid. If/when these plentiful objects cross our path in a serious way, we could have an “annual global meteorite storm lasting over a hundred years“. Society would become divided: those who take their chances, and those that choose to / can afford to protect themselves (bunkers). Bombs from the sky at the same time every year could become as normal as tropical rainy seasons.
Pyramid / Meteorite Coin – A 2012 Collectible?
Imagine living in a post-2012 apocalyptic world, due to our planet colliding with an asteroid…
Now, imagine showing your children this, to help explain what happened:
Not only does it show the orbits of the planets, and not only does it have genuine meteorite fragments embedded in the center, but it also depicts Egyptian and Mayan pyramids, and an Easter Island statue!
Great gift idea (hint to Mrs Bast), buy it from the Aussie Mint for $155:http://mintissue.ramint.gov.au/mintissue/product.asp?code=801373
German Schoolboy Hit By Meteorite & Lives!
The size of a pea, by the time it reached him, it still managed to leave a 5cm scar on the hand of Gerrit Blank, and a 30cm-wide crater in the pavement.
While this is the sort of “happy story” that you sometimes get at the end of news bulletins, it is only so due to the fact he lived, and the rarity of the situation. If a town/city is ever struck my a large meteorite, it will be a tragedy.
In recorded history he seems to be the person who has come off best from such a cosmic collision. According to Wikipedia:
The only other human confirmed to be struck and injured by a meteor was 31 year old Ann Hodges, of Sylacauga, Alabama. She was struck while asleep in bed on November 30, 1954, after the meteorite punched through the roof of her home, smashed a wooden cabinet, and then bounced …
Meteorite Illness in Peru
If this story gets pulled, the X-Files are really out there. Or it could just be a case of rural hypochondria?
A meteorite crashes in Peru, “in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia”.
Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a “strange odor,” local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.
Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.
Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.
“Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned,” he said.
