Meteorite in Latvia

[Stuart]

Reports of a meteorite in Latvia:

_http://www.vesti.ru/videos?vid=247325&p=1&sort=1

A google translation of the description in the video says:

In the area of the Latvian city Mazsalaca now fallen meteorite crater 20 m wide and a depth of 5 meters, no one was hurt.

An alleged video of the aftermath:

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5C-Lh3UfQ8

 

[Vulcan59]

Hi Stuart,

Was just reading about it. Here is an article of the impact in English and it even has an image of the purported impact crater shown below.

 

[henry]

Man, check out the last line in the report Vulcan59 link to:

LARGE METEORITE FELL on a field near a small town in Latvia, creating a 20-meter crater. Nobody was hurt. Local farmers called 911 to let them know about "the flying fire." Scientists, dispatched to the scene, removed the meteorite to determine its composition.

The most striking fact here is that how the meteorite managed to hit Latvia, one of the smallest countries in the world. (This former Soviet republic of 2 million people is only 300 miles wide, i.e. much less than 1 percent of earth's surface.)

Nothing else interesting happened in Latvia lately.

The Latvians might disagree. :)

 

[Vulcan59]

The most striking fact here is that how the meteorite managed to hit Latvia, one of the smallest countries in the world. (This former Soviet republic of 2 million people is only 300 miles wide, i.e. much less than 1 percent of earth's surface.)

A bit of further searching and I found the Meteoritical Society where a database of impact events are kept. According to their database, Latvia has been officially hit, four times previously. Not too sure how accurate the database is though but it's updated as of 23rd October 09. :)

 

[Laura]

Wow! A smashing year indeed! And that data should make an interesting pattern on our timeline!

 

[daco]

Wow! A smashing year indeed!

In wich sense a smashing year,comets this year or "smashing year" in sense of organization a Fellowship of The Cosmic Mind.
Cs said 2009 is a "smashing year" not smashing year.
I,m bit confused about this smashing year stuff.

 

[Laura]

Here's an image of the thing that Ark found on a Latvian site:

Added: here's the same video on a Latvian news site:
http://www.mixnews.lv/ru/incidents/video/551

 

[Laura]

According to Ark who is watching the Latvian news, a geologist is now pronouncing the whole thing a hoax. Apparently the owner of the land started charging for people to see it and that is "evidence" that it was all hoaxed for monetary gain!

I'm waiting to hear more but my initial reaction is that this sounds like a cover-up.

One question to ask would be: how many people witnessed the thing shooting through the sky?

UPDATE: Now they are saying that there is molten sand at the bottom of the pit and that means very high temperatures that could not be hoaxed...

The place is now cordoned off by police and "specialists are investigating."

 

[mugacoffee]

sott: Fireball impacts Latvian countryside: Video footage of blazing meteorite

just to let you guys know that the report you got from the daily mail has changed with them claiming it a hoax. Apparently its too clean!

Scientists investigating a large crater initially believed to have been caused by a meteorite said a closer analysis today revealed it was a hoax.

Experts in the Baltic country rushed to the site after reports that a metorite-like object had crashed late last night 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 today.

Earlier Uldis had said his first impression late last night was that the crater had been caused by a meteorite. He said there was smoke coming out of the hole when he arrived.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1222990/Fiery-meteor-creates-50-foot-crater-Latvian-countryside.html#ixzz0V3euYrVL

But on seeing the hole in daylight today, he and several other scientists changed they mind.

They 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 analyse 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.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1222990/Fiery-meteor-creates-50-foot-crater-Latvian-countryside.html

 

[miguel angel]

Re: sott: Fireball impacts Latvian countryside: Video footage of blazing meteorite

wow! what a shovel! I want one of those for Christmas.

So case closed. Nothing to see here... go on with your lives... bla bla bla :)

just to let you guys know that the report you got from the daily mail has changed with them claiming it a hoax. Apparently its too clean!

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

 

[Bo]

This is what happens when swamp gas gets into collision with chinese lantern , they create craters. It's called '"The Shovel Effect''

 

[NormaRegula]

I'm waiting to hear more but my initial reaction is that this sounds like a cover-up.

One question to ask would be: how many people witnessed the thing shooting through the sky?

UPDATE: Now they are saying that there is molten sand at the bottom of the pit and that means very high temperatures that could not be hoaxed...

The place is now cordoned off by police and "specialists are investigating."

Doesn't read like a hoax to me either.

If this is indeed a cover-up, are the PTB going to arrest the land owner for fraud...or drag out some Doug Bower and Dave Chorley types to admit to a "hoax"?

Wouldn't be surprised if in the near future the PTB actually orchestrated more obvious false craters to take the heat off (no pun intended) persons looking for the truth in this and related matters. They did it with abductions and crop circles...why not meteorite craters?

 

[Laura]

Now they are saying that some guy has come forward and confessed to creating the hoax. However, he doesn't offer any evidence nor does he give a reason for the hoax.

I think it's damage control. Can't have people knowing that these things are striking that often lately or that they can make holes that big.

 

[RyanX]

The timing is suspect too. This falls right on the heels of the recent Orionid meteor showers:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195256-Orionid-Meteor-Shower

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orionids

 

[NormaRegula]

Can't have people knowing that these things are striking that often lately or that they can make holes that big.

Can't wait (or perhaps I can!) to hear the explanation when an even bigger one hits an area of earth that was undisturbed the night/day before. Guess the media will spin it as a guy (or guys) furiously shoveling dirt in an effort to become the next "crater copycats".