Video: Amazing meteorite footage thought to be student prank

by Stevie Smith - Oct 27 2009, 15:15

Arriving hot on the heels of the ‘trapped kid in a helium balloon’ hoax that took America by storm, sensational footage of a flaming meteorite burning within its impact crater has also been labelled little more than an elaborate publicity stunt.

More pointedly, scientists descending on the town of Mazsalaca in Latvia to examine the crater have suggested the site is more likely the result of a prank staged by the group of film students who fortuitously heard the impact and captured the smouldering space rock on video.

“It’s a fake,” commented Dr. Ilgonis Vilks, chairman of the scientific council at the University of Latvia’s Institute of Astronomy, in a Times Online report. “It’s very disappointing, I was full of hope coming here, but I am certain it is not a meteorite.”

In highlighting evidence of the prank, Dr. Vilks noted his examinations of the crater revealed it be containing undamaged green grass, which would have been incinerated by impact’s intense heat – if it had actually happened.

He also said the surrounding area was devoid of meteorite fragments and other debris, all of which would usually be thrown up by a high-speed collision on the planet’s surface.

And, in focusing on the meteorite itself, the disgruntled scientist noted that, although samples had been dispatched for assessment, the burning rock appeared to be little more than a ball of clay.

Echoing those comments, Uldis Nulle, a scientist at the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, said initial hopes the impact site was genuine had been dashed upon closer inspection during daylight hours.

“This is not a real crater,” he told The Associated Press. “It is artificial.” 

Waves of excitement had spread throughout the scientific community late on Sunday when film student Ancis Steinbergs and two friends claimed to have witnessed a burning streak falling from the sky before hearing a massive impact nearby.

Rushing to the supposed point of contact, the students captured what appeared to be a nine-metre crater on video while waiting for the State Fire and Rescue service to arrive and cordon off the area.

It’s also worth noting that an attending military team found radiation levels to be normal around the crater, while scientists said the speed of impact associated with meteorite strikes would shatter a falling rock into tiny fragments, not leave a solid, burning mass at the bottom of a hole.

Want regular updates from The Tech Herald? Follow us on Twitter.

Interested in a more interactive TTH? Join our Facebook Group.

Around the Web