How The Peruvian Meteorite Made It To Earth

Science Daily ^ | 3-12-2008 | Brown University

[SunkenCiv]

Ironically, meteors themselves used to be in this category until at least the late 18th Century. The scientific wisdom went, "There are no stones in the sky, therefore no stones can fall from the sky."

I wholeheartedly agree, and would add "until at least the early 21st century". The belief that stones didn't fall out of the sky, that they were instead carried by the winds from elsewhere, dates back at least as far as Aristotle, and may have originated with him.

[gleeaikin]

I remember a few months ago when this story was first posted, a lot of commenters said the hole was only 6 feet in diameter and they were lying about it being 30 or 40 feet wide.

I wonder of the scientists have tested for fullerines, shocked quartz, and rare earth radioactive elements?

[Grimmy]

““Normally with a small object like this, the atmosphere slows it down, and it becomes the equivalent of a bowling ball dropping into the ground,” Schultz said. “It would make a hole in the ground, like a pit, but not a crater. But this meteorite kept on going at a speed about 40 to 50 times faster than it should have been going.””

Alert!! Alert!!

The dreaded Meteorites have upgraded their propulsion systems to a new generation of hyperdrive engine!!