meteorite or chemical warhead ?

[tocqueville]

Peruvians get sick from apparent meteorite crater By Teresa Cespedes
Tue Sep 18, 5:55 PM ET

LIMA (Reuters) - Dozens of people living in a Peruvian town near Lake Titicaca reported vomiting and headaches after they went to look at a crater apparently left by a meteorite that crashed down over the weekend, health officials said on Tuesday.

After hearing a loud noise, people went to see what had happened and found a crater 65 feet wide and 22 feet deep on an uninhabited plateau near Carancas in the Puno region.

Experts from Peru's Geophysical Institute are on their way to the area 800 miles south of Lima to verify whether it was a meteorite.

"We've examined about 100 people who got near to the meteorite crater who have vomiting and headaches because of gasses coming out of there," Jorge Lopez, health director in Puno, told Reuters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070918/sc_nm/peru_meteorite_dc_4

I saw some TV pictures on CNN. There was obviously some green-white organic goo in the crater. One explanation was that teh object hit a dump of buried animals...

but I've never heard that buried animals even decomposed give that kind of symptoms. One natural explanation would be a release of hydrogen sulfides...

very strange anyway

[AuntPatsy]

1. I do find this disturbing but I wonder if the truth will be revealed?

[Cetacea]

2. Something is not right with this story.

The meteorite manages to miss a populated area (not unusual) but manages to hit a group of animals that have some sort of green goo that makes everyone sick...

[tocqueville]

4. it's that way the movie "Bodysnatchers" started

damned Iranians

[Cetacea]

6. LOL. . eom

[Flabbergasted]

3. Wouldn't the idea behind dropping a chemical warhead be to kill rather than incapacitate?

And then there is the matter of why drop one in Peru? Peru has no need for chemical weapons.

[tocqueville]

5. if it was a warhead it was unintentional

a test that went wrong

[HawkerHurricane]

15. Lots of different chem warfare stuff...

Much of it only semi-lethal. Mustard Gas, for instance, is unlikely to kill outright, but will make you too ill to fight (and cause long term health problems, crippling you for what's left of your shortened life). Gas warfare isn't terribly effective, it's clumsy and nasty. There's a reason you don't see it used often after WW1.

Random thoughts (should be seperate post, but I'm lazy)

Peru only needs chemical weapons if Chile has them. And Chile needs them if Argentina or Peru has them. And Argentina needs them if Chile, Paraguay, Uraguay, or Brazil has them...

Description doesn't sound like a chemical warhead. They don't tend to leave big craters.

Freak explosion in a old sewage pit? Would explain crater, smell, and illness. Now, how did the crater form?

[Flabbergasted]

21. Thanks. Is there any modern effective chemical weapons?

[krispos42]

29. Sarin, for one. VX is another one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_weapon

Nasty stuff, indeed...

[HawkerHurricane]

30. Nerve agents are bad

Sarin and VX both have low lethal doses.

Remember the gas attack on the Japanese subway? Killed 12, injured 50, a thousand made sick... in a enclosed space (subway stations) during rush hour.

Nerve Gas is nasty stuff... but not the 'ultimate weapon' it's sometimes made out to be.

[pkz]

7. Scientists say it is not a meteorite

There is indeed a hole in the ground in Peru,and by all accounts it smells bad, but it is not likely of cosmic origin. In order to blast a 30-meter crater, a meteorite would have to hit the ground with about as much energy as 1 kiloton of TNT--akin to a tactical nuclear weapon. This would leave a clear signal in worldwide seismic and infrasound records, but so far no such signals are being reported by authorities.

In short, we remain unconvinced. Stay tuned for updates




http://www.spaceweather.com/

[tocqueville]

9. that would mean it blew up in situ

a gas pocket created by rottening corpses ?

they must have buried a lot of llamas...

[foo_bar]

25. better known as a volcano, in my lay opinion

Volcan Poas, Costa Rica (lake of sulfuric acid, per SO3 + H2O):


Peru belongs to the "&imgrefurl=http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students%3Fcontent_spotlight/volcanoes/where_ring&h=358&w=335&sz=10&tbnid=Cj2_mPy6Qe8L8M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=113&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dring%2Bof%2Bfire%2Bvolcanoes%26um%3D1&start=2&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=2">Ring of Fire" ("Nazca" tectonic plate versus South American Plate):

The volcano has been spewing out acid-laden ash and smoke over a radius of six kilometres (3.5 miles), causing eye and breathing problems for local people.

A regional official said muffled explosions were coming from the volcano and pieces of red-hot lava were expanding inside the crater.

Teams of geologists and doctors have been sent to the area to monitor the volcano and the health risks.

"It's dangerous...all the signs are that a dome of incandescent lava is building," Leonidas Ocola of Peru's Geophysics Institute told the French news agency AFP.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4935568.stm

(re: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=308501&mesg_id=308524)

[daninthemoon]

8. C'mon people. Don't you recognize "The Blob"? Just stay out of

the town movie theater. Actually, I am pretty curious about this, and if we'll get a full accounting.

[tocqueville]

10. other details here

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located 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.
......

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070918/sc_afp/peruhealthoffbeat

could be volcanic of course... but the green stuff.... sulphur bacteria ?

[TahitiNut]

11. Lima beans do that to me, too.

:dunce:

[rucky]

14. Inca Dinka Doo! n/t

[TahitiNut]

18. More like dinky Inca doo-doo?

:silly:

[Perseid]

12. meteoretical at the very best

warheads. What will those crazy Peruvians come up with next?

[Bluerthanblue]

13. it has

got to have something to do with the near-by lake.

Titicaca?? :silly:


Seriously, I wonder if it is somehow related to the recent earthquake?

[Canuckistanian]

16. The 'Bad Astronomy' blog has some doubts about that crater

Interesting. Typically, you don’t get small craters (like a meter across) because the meteorite needed to produce something in that size range would be so small that it wouldn’t be moving very quickly when it hit the ground (200 kph or so). Big craters, hundreds of meters across, are formed when a big object hits at hypersonic speeds, because the air doesn’t slow them down much. Craters intermediate in size are very rare, as far as I seen; an object, say, 10 meters across will still be moving at quite a clip when it hits, but not at hypersonic speeds. So the crater size makes me suspicious; I wouldn’t expect a flaming meteorite at that size… but I won’t rule it out with my limited knowledge.

http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/09/18/meteorite-mayhem-part-i/

[MetalCanuck]

17. Here is the real story!

Just outside Peruvian town near Lake Titicaca called Raccoon
City a mysterious meteor crashes. Soon the local populace get
infected with a mysterious disease from outer space. Then all
of a sudden there were vomiting, headaches and then then they
began to crave human flesh! Chaos reigned supreme as they
attacked the rest of the populace feasting on their Bodies!.
But the disease seem to spread and turned the people to oooh
ZOMBIES!

Upon hearing the news George Bush springs into action!
Breaking out his favorite book called The Bible? NOPE! its was
My Pet Goat! While this "man of action" gets
prepared President Cheney takes care of the problem.

First he calls his Vice president "in secret" Henry
Kissinger for advice. "Lord Cheney" Henry says, in
his weird fake German accent , "Why don't you simply Bomb
the place?". Cheney then replies "That would be too
cheap, nothing in it for Halliburton, on any one of my
Contractor friends", he says shaking his head in
frustration trying to come up with an idea! Then he continues,
"Well we have got to do something Henry before this gets
out of hand!"

Just then Henry had a brilliant idea! "Why don't we get
the army to fight them, but we just won't send enough, we can
never kill all the Zombies off that way, just send enough
solders so this can take as long as possible!. "Then all
our contractor friends could substitute for traditional army
jobs and charge the taxpayer a arm and a leg for every service
they perform!"

Well Cheney's black heart went a flutter with
excitement..."We will do that right away!"

(I am working on it, tell me what you think:) ) LOL

I actually hope the people are ok, its probably just a meteor,
this does happen.

[Flabbergasted]

20. Now I see. George Bush was right. Watch this

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2487640963949965494&q=Zombie+Bush&total=213&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[MetalCanuck]

26. Ha good one;) Here is another part to my story..

Then Cheney calls Donald, 'Hey Rummy' Dick says fondly, 'I
need you to come up with a war plan stat!' rummy says 'Well
thats a 'known unknown' but I will know that 'unknown known'
shortly and will send the army out immediately somewhere
within that area north south, east, or west ok? he replies.
Cheney says 'Perfect! Get right on it!' He hangs up and says
to Henry with a chuckle 'well that will take care of that
problem, that senial fool couldn't fight a war out of a wet
paper bag!' They both laugh histerically.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Meteorite

easy to explain actually

Some comets have water

Some also have HCL in solution

Need I explain this?

And the signs and symptons are classic for HCL...

By the way, most developing world countries do not have the chemical sniffers we have

In some ways, I wonder if that crater also has some aminoacids...

[unhappycamper]

22. Screwing on my tinfoil hat. . .

Could this be a "Rods from God" test of some sort? I won't put anything post this cabal.

[malaise]

23. Some video here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7001897.stm

Very strange indeed.

[maine_raptor]

24. Simple explanation

"Blue Ice" from a passing UFO.

[daninthemoon]

27. Gotta be.

[Bassic]

28. Bizarre

Très bizarre.