[meteorite-list] Meteorite Doubting Thomas

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:14:06 -0700
Message-ID: <93aaac890709220114w186a64f4m5b88cebc7dd2f211_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello Tracy, All,

> I have problems with the meteorite theory:
> 1. Meteorites, as this List knows, come in cold, not hot enough to make the water in the crater "boiling", as several witnesses stated.

If the object was indeed large enough to create a crater (and there
does appear to be one there), then it would have retained at least
something of its original cosmic velocity. Temperature doesn't matter
in this case - the impactor that created meteor crater in Arizona was
most definitely as cold as space internally when it hit the Arizona
desert, and it released enough kinetic energy when it hit to
create...quite a bit of heat, as you can see by the hole that remains
~25-50,000 years later.

> 2. Meteorites usually travel a long distance from where the glowing meteor is first seen. If the locals saw the bolide, chances are good whatever they saw fell a long distance away, not close enough for them to get there soon after it fell.

Again, if this is indeed a meteorite, and a crater-forming one at
that, it would most definitely retain some of its initial cosmic
velocity, and thus likely remain in an incandescent stage of flight
until either it hit, or simply very close to impact.

> 3. Speaking of rocks, by now, everyone in every little hamlet knows that there are crazy people out there who pay big money for meteorites. If there was a "shower of rocks" associated with the fall, how come none of the other purported meteorites have been recovered?

This shower of rocks associated with the crater is probably (in my
opinion) merely dirt that rained down following the explosion of
whatever it was that exploded, meteorite or geothermal vent.

> 4. I await the analysis of a real meteorite specialist, not a geologist, not a vulcanologist, and not media speculation! No reputable scientist from outside Peru has so far investigated the crater or seen the alleged meteorite fragments.

I'm inclined to agree with you, but for rather different reasons -
none of the residents mentioned any phonic effects such as sonic
booms, or any of the sounds typically associated with a falling
meteorite. If it was indeed a meteorite, it would almost certainly
have fragmented to some degree, creating fragments that would have
generated multiple consecutive sonic booms when heard together. The
sounds associated with such a fall would, I'm fairly sure, be
stupendous.
Seeing as there has been no mention of such sounds....

> 5. The sickness associated with the crater is a likely red herring, and unrelated to a real meteorite.

I feel inclined to disagree with you on this point - when an event
such as this occurs - terrestrial or not, and the people nearby report
never-before-seen 'mass sickness' and odd smells....when generating a
hypothesis, it's best to go with the most simple possibility first and
then disprove that before moving on. Unless you want to come up with
a separate source for the simultaneous appearance of noxious gasses, I
would suggest tying the crater/meteorite/steam explosion to the
noxious gasses. It's just too much of a coincidence.


To address the previous thread that I was a part of - to be frank,
there's too little information to tell at this point; all we can do is
wait.

Regards,
Jason

>
> My 2 centavos.
> Tracy Latimer
>
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Received on Sat 22 Sep 2007 04:14:06 AM PDT