The heavenly rock
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FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Authorities were trying to identify a mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a house in eastern New Jersey.
Nobody was injured when the golf-ball sized object, weighing nearly as much as a can of soup, struck the home and embedded itself in a wall Tuesday night. Federal officials sent to the scene said it was not from an aircraft.
The rough-surfaced object, with a metallic glint, was displayed Wednesday by police.
"There's some great interest in what we have here," said Lt. Robert Brightman. "It's rather unusual. I haven't seen anything like it in my career."
He said he hoped to have the object identified within 72 hours, but declined to name the other agencies whose help he has enlisted.
I know they like to be cautious and wait until they have all the facts before making a judgment (the rock has been sent to a lab for analysis), but from the sound of the article, the local police sound truly perplexed.
Photo:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070104/ap_on_fe_st/fallen_object
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The WTF being?
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Maybe that some news agency went through all that trouble to produce and distribute an article about a friggin rock? Honestly if I was the reporter assigned to that story, I'd start taking the hint that my company wants me to look for a job elsewhere.
If it contained some bacteria that scientists hadn't seen before, then OK we have a story. If it killed someone in the fall, that's newsworthy. But a rock falling from the sky? It happens all the time. It would be like reporting speeding tickets on the 11 o'clock news.
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Does this remind anyone else of the Joe Dirt pet rock... you know, the one that turns out to be a big ball of frozen poop?
I don't know, maybe it is just me...
I agree though, how is this a WTF?
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The WTF is that they are stating that they have no idea what this "rock" is, or where it came from, when it's pretty obvious it's a meteorite. Why they couldn't have made that assumption is beyond me.
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It might be just me not having taken astronomy, but is it common for meteorites to be covered with (and possible be made of) metallic ore?
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Most meteorites have a high nickel/iron component.
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[quote user="archivator"]It might be just me not having taken astronomy, but is it common for meteorites to be covered with (and possible be made of) metallic ore?
[/quote]
Absolutely. From Wikipedia:Meteorites have traditionally been divided into three broad categories: stony meteorites are rocks, mainly composed of silicate minerals; iron meteorites are largely composed of metallic iron-nickel; and, stony-iron meteorites contain large amounts of both metallic and rocky material.
I can't even remember learning that in astronomy. And the article mentions that it was the size of a golf ball yet the weight of a can of soup. That's pretty much the defining characteristic of a space chunk.
I guess the real WTF is that only supernerds like me know that.
More fun about rocks: Vulcanic pumice (igneous rock) floats in water!
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[quote user="Pap"]
More fun about rocks: Vulcanic pumice (igneous rock) floats in water!
[/quote]There's tons of it up near Mt. St. Helens, though they have signs everywhere telling you not to take any.
I've got a bunch at home.
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[quote user="un.sined"]
[quote user="Pap"]
More fun about rocks: Vulcanic pumice (igneous rock) floats in water!
[/quote]There's tons of it up near Mt. St. Helens, though they have signs everywhere telling you not to take any.
I've got a bunch at home.
[/quote]
It's all gone because of people like you who keep taking it.
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Reuters - Fri Jan 5, 7:37 PM ET
Avg. Rating: 4.5
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A metallic rock that smashed through the roof of a home in New Jersey was a meteorite, authorities said on Friday.
And it only took them 36 hours!
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@Pap said:
More fun about rocks: Vulcanic pumice (igneous rock) floats in water!
That would seem to be quite logical.
Oh wait, did you mean volcanic?
