Possible Meteorite Leaves a Crater In Latvia 177
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.
Smoking crater (Score:5, Funny)
If it is a cylinder from Mars we need to nuke it immediately.
As Long As It's Just Latvia (Score:5, Funny)
If it was Latveria, it'd probably be a precursor to Clobbering Time.
Watch the local towns (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hoax (Score:5, Funny)
Million Reasons Why Latvia Is The Best Country In The World [miljons.com]
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 :)
Investigation (Score:5, Funny)
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 [google.com]"
(surprisingly, Google has a Latvian-to-English translator.)
Conflicting reports (Score:2, Funny)
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.
Official response from Latvian goverment (Score:4, Funny)
Nothing special
Dialogue Heard Shortly after Impact (Score:3, Funny)
Men in Black [imdb.com]
This one looks like a hoax as well (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Aluminum powder? (Score:5, Funny)
The meteorite fell on a buried cache of thermite and ignited it. Everyone happy now?
Re:Smoking crater (Score:3, Funny)
Latvia is a hoax (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Found in the crater- (Score:3, Funny)
Balloon boy was a hoax. The real child in the crater was baby superman.
Re:As Long As It's Just Latvia (Score:3, 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
Re:As Long As It's Just Latvia (Score:1, Funny)
the correct eadline should be "Possible Meteorite Leaves a Crater in Latveria, shining man reported flying in a surf board nearby!"
"Meteor sh!t...!" (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Hoax (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Google Earth? (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.
Re:Latvia is a hoax (Score:1, Funny)
Doesn't Dr. Victor Von Doom rule Latvia?
gotta love hollywood (Score:3, Funny)
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).
Re:Found in the crater- (Score:2, Funny)
Good thing, my spaceship designers spent time making sure Warp core ejection was foolproof, installing seat-belts to supplement the inertial dampeners and making sure weapons fire wouldn't feed back throgh random consoles to kill junior officers on my bridge, rather than designing an artificial gravity subsystem that would still work even when the trans dimensional cloak fails and 1/2 the ship materializes in solid rock.
Re:Aluminum powder? (Score:3, Funny)
The meteorite fell on a buried cache of thermite and ignited it. Everyone happy now?
No....cause you yelled at me.