(News) Meteors Impacting around the World

[Guest Vegas]

Hi,

 

I'm sure you are all unaware of the hype! Currently going on around the World via the 'Internet' regarding Comet strikes, Asteroid strikes and 'The end of the World' Armageddon debates. I'm not a professional astronomer, astrologer or a conspiracy theorist, but I can't believe the UK or the WORLD'S mainstream media hasn't picked up on the highly increased number of meteor impacts and sightings over the last few weeks.

 

Why could this be?

 

In the astronomical aspect of things this is huge news.

 

Here are some of the main news headlines over the last few weeks from around the World we thought you should know about. If you read all of the links you will soon realise that there could be something much bigger heading our way.

 

 

It began with a crashed meteor in Washington, on June 3rd, which made national headlines, (Link http://www.goanacortes.com/articles/2004/06/09/news/news14.txt,

which was reportedly the size of a baseball upon impact.

 

The following week, reports of a meteorite in New Zealand,(Link: http://www.inq7.net/brk/2004/jun/14/brkafp_2-1.htm), which crashed through a home and nearly killed a child sitting on a couch.

 

A week later, reports of a meteor-strike in Australia, which according to several published news reports, was the size of a HOUSE. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9869458%255E421,00.html

 

Then on June 19th, a report from Missouri of a CAR-SIZED METEORITE, which received no coverage in the national media. http://freeinternetpress.com/article.pl?sid=04/06/20/0542230&mode=thread

 

June 20th, in Oklahoma, the Alva Review Courier runs a story which apparently can no longer be found on their site or anywhere else, of a FIREBALL which lit up the midnight sky. (Visit this link to see the article description on Google news, as well as a thumbnail pic of what appears to be a FIELD ALFAME WITH GLOWING FIRE. (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&e...i&q=la+fireball)

 

Also on June 20th, in Seattle, WA, we have the report of an "unprecedented meteor shower" and multiple UFO sighting by Cliff Mickelson of Rumour Mill News. http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=50825

 

June 28, 2004 Terang man rocked by drop-inBy JACLYN DENSLEY

http://the.standard.net.au/articles/2004/06/28/1088274657543.html

 

 

Also congruent to this was the disappearance of 29,000 pelicans, abandoning nesting grounds, leaving their eggs behind. (Link: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread59026/pg1)

 

The Cosmic Bombardment Continues

By Michael Goodspeed

http://www.thunderbolts.info

With the ongoing controversy surrounding mysterious disappearing media accounts of fireballs, meteors, asteroids, and "crashed planes", it will be interesting to see if ANYONE in the international or American media picks up this report, issued hours ago in New Zealand.Š

I repeat - some incredibly strange and intense celestial activity is going on - and it is NOT BEING REPORTED by the large majority of media. Again, the question is, WHY?

From: http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,3882-3469666,00.html

Today In New Zealand News

Residents Report Meteor

27/06/2004 12:07 PM

NewstalkZB

 

A South Island radio station is being swamped with reports of a meteor strike in the Mackenzie Country.

People from Christchurch to Timaru say they saw a bright light streaking across the sky around 9.30 on Saturday night.

Port FM announcer James Valentine says he has taken dozens of calls describing the dramatic end of the meteor's journey.

He says it exploded before it hit the ground, and flames and debris were seen in the sky.

James Valentine says a consensus is building around the idea the meteor crashed to earth somewhere near Twizel.

(END REPORT).

If you need links for all of this and more go to http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.com/ or contact me (this is a propaganda website but the links are from news stations and independent media websites, so they are relevant.)

 

Name withheld

 

Meteor impacts and coverups part 2

 

After a major Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hits Iran, a large bolide meteor falls from the sky destroying several neighborhood units. The tremor that it caused could be felt up to one kilometer away. The meteor’s impact was in a rural area of Babol.

 

 

Meteor fireballs were seen by hundreds of people across Spain from the east coast of Valencia to Santiago de Compostela. From the accounts, a large meteor may have exploded and sent fragments to earth. The sightings were around 6:00 PM (1700 GMT).

 

 

A strange story appears in the Guardian about a small village in Italy that is believed to be possessed by the devil. While religious clerics claim a supernatural event, there are others that are baffled as to why a small village that has been without electricity for three weeks is experiencing the spontaneous combustion of washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, electricity meters and cables. Electrical charges and balls of fire are observed coming from a clear sky.

 

 

In February of 2004 it was reported that President George W. Bush was notified on January 13th, 2004 that an object, estimated to be about 30 meters later designated 2004 AS1, had a one-in-four chance of hitting the northern hemisphere within 36 hours. Ironically bush was about to make his pitch for a new Moon Mission and later a Mission to Mars.

 

 

The BBC reports that British archeologists and members of the Military are trapped in underground caves in Mexico. Flash flood waters nearly drown the men and Mexican authorities are called in to rescue them. The British refuse the help of Mexican authorities and demand to be rescued by their own Military. Mexican President Vicente Fox was unaware that any members of the British Military were in his country and he needed answers. Were the men looking for underground shelters in case of a large asteroid impact?

 

 

A man calling himself "Aussie Bloke" begins posting messages in a blogger claiming to be an Australian scientist named Dr Grant Gartrell. Aussie Bloke says that the end of the world is about to happen. He claims that the Snowball NET broadcast was a broadcast intended to inform the military and others that three major events were going to take place, with a final cataclysmic event to take place on June 20th, 2004. He informs the internet audience that there will be a darkness over the planet during the first week in June and major extra terrestrial threats every week until the proposed date for the extinction level event.

 

 

A department of a major corporation in the NYC area, with close ties to Tom Ridge, issued warnings to employees to expect "something big" in NY this summer. They are instructed not to ride the subways and trains during rush hour, and to avoid the tunnels.

 

 

The credit card fraud division of a major bank in the Western US received a visit from the Treasury Department warning them of a startling increase in credit card fraud that funnels large amounts of cash to certain individuals. This same pattern occurred 3 months prior to 9/11.

 

 

The money supply in the United States consists of three figures. M-1 is money that can be spent immediately. It includes cash, checking accounts, and NOW accounts. M-2 consists of assets invested for the short term: money-market accounts and money-market mutual funds. M-3 consists of big institutional deposits and money movements: money-market funds and cross lending agreements among banks. The Federal Reserve has confirmed that a Stock Market Crash or major business collapse is due because they have raised the M-3 Money Supply by crisis proportions. It is now up another 46.8 billion dollars.

 

 

An unprecedented total of seven aircraft carrier strike groups have deployed simultaneously during the month of June allegedly for "training/readiness" exercises. The official story is that all of these carrier groups are participating in "Summer Pulse 04," through August, conducting joint exercises and international exercises with allies from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. However, skeptics point out that this is strange given the heavy commitments of ships and forces in the Middle East, the dwindling spare parts inventory and the already scare fuel resources being consumed by our military forces. While most of the carriers are powered by nuclear energy, each strike group has 10-12 support and defensive ships that burn tons of diesel fuel.

 

 

China and Russia are also conducting major exercises during this same time period. China’s war games are aimed at "taking control of the Taiwan Strait," according to official sources, and will include some 18,000 troops, over a hundred ships, and amphibious landing craft. Taiwan is responding with live firing exercises in a show of force of its own.

 

 

George Tenet resigns from his position as president of the CIA on June 3rd, 2004.

 

 

In the early morning of June 3rd, 2004 many people in the Northwest United States were awakened by what looked like bright sunlight. At about 2:44 Am KIRO-TV in Seattle reported that witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the Puget Sound region from the Tacoma area to Whidbey Island and as far as 260 miles to the east said the sky lit up brilliantly, and many reported booms as if from one or more explosions. It was later reported that a bolide meteor the size of a small car, trash can, or computer monitor exploded near Olympia Washington. No one could determine the size, but surveillance cameras showed that the impact caused a "daylight event" at 2:44 A.M.

 

 

On June 5th, 2004 an early morning broadcast on KFI radio in Los Angeles features a story about explosions being seen at LAX and the report of a possible plane going down in a heavily wooded area. Walt Jackson reported the story just after 2:00 AM Pacific time. His report said that the fireball and possible downed plane was reported to have been near the Sepulveda pass along Interstate 5 north of highway 210. Police checked the area and no plane was found.

 

 

President Bush Meets with Pope John Paul II even though the Pope has openly criticized Bush over human rights issues and prisoner torture in Iraq.

 

 

A group calling themselves "Blind Skies" claims that "Aussie Bloke" is a hoax. While they say that what they did was not a Psy-op, they do claim to be affiliated with the government. Later Dr Grant Gartrell, a very real Australian Scientist comes forward and claims that he has been the victim of Identity theft. Coincidentally Gartrell is an author of an extensive article on meteors which appeared in the Australian Journal of Physics in 1975.

 

 

Ronald Wilson Reagan passes away on June 5th, 2004. The only President that commented at least four times that "extra terrestrial threats" may be the only thing that would unite the world. After a state Funeral he is laid to rest on June 11th, 2004.

 

 

USA Today reports that Military officials are testing a system for jamming signals from navigational satellites an experiment that could disable boaters' GPS devices and force them to rely on dead reckoning. This test is expected to go on until June 20th, 2004

 

 

An explosion and bright light was seen in the skies over New Zealand. Witnesses in Kotemaori, south of Wairoa, to Mahia Peninsula in the north and Lake Waikaremoana inland claimed that the sky lit up like noonday and an explosion was heard shaking the ground.

 

 

A rock fell from the sky on an Aukland New Zealand home on June 12th, 2004. The rock believed to be from a larger meteorite crash landed through the home of Brenda Archer. The rock weighed about three pounds.

 

 

On June 12th, 2004 it was reported that 27,000 pelicans have disappeared in Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota. Now officials say another 2,000 are gone, leaving behind hundreds of chick carcasses and eggs on an island.

 

 

On June 14th the Palo Verde Nuclear Power plant shuts down unexpectedly. It was the first time that all three units at the plant shut down and even one of the two diesel backups did not seem to want to work properly. The disruption caused 65,000 residents to lose power for about an hour. There were also some people affected in New Mexico and Northern California. It was reported later in the week on KPHO Television that amateur photographers caught on film balls of electric arcs and explosions. There was also some footage of strange balls of light in formation near the plant.

 

 

On June 17th, 2004 it is reported that a bolide meteor reported to be the size of a house fell near the top of a hill in Bulli Australia. While a meteor of that size would have left a huge crater, some witnesses say that the meteor exploded over an area on the NSW south coast. Witness accounts have varied and now scientists are saying that the size may have been exaggerated. The Sydney airport first backed up the report about the large meteor, and then retracted their statement.

 

 

On June 19th, 2004 another ball of fire and another explosion in Missouri. Witnesses claim that a ball of fire shot over the house causing the windows to shake.

 

 

On June 20th, 2004 a report out of Oklahoma claims that the Green valley Disposal facility goes up in flames. Witnesses claim that a fireball touched off the blaze. Others say that huge bolts of lightning could be seen in the area and that it triggered a huge fire. The 12-tank salt water disposal facility capable of holding 4,750 barrels of liquid oil field waste was quickly reduced to black oily rubble. These are some major coincidences. On June 20th, 2004 I was on the air taking jabs from irate callers who told me that the world didn't end and that I was fooled.

 

The truth is that I never said the world would end. I simply pointed out that there were all kinds of odd events that appeared to be earmarks for an end of the world type of event. Since June 20th, I have received numerous phone calls calling me a liar and a creep. I have also received e-mails telling me that I have made up all of the stories that I shared with my audience during the month of June.

 

None of these stories have been made up. None of them have been exaggerated and most of them have somehow escaped the grasp of the mainstream media. I believe that these fireballs and anomalies form space may be the precursors to something far more threatening.

 

I am not the only one who is thinking this way either.

 

On June 22nd, 2004 the Maui News published a story headlined "Earth-asteroid collision inevitable, but preventable" written by Harry Eagar and in it, James Heasley a professor at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy is quoted as saying:

 

"There's no question that there's a huge asteroid speeding through space somewhere with Earth's name on it, but it's the most preventable disaster mankind might ever face"

 

In Chapter two for H.G. Welles book "War of the Worlds" a star falls from the sky in the early morning hours over Winchester England. The fireball moves eastward leaving behind a line of flame in the upper atmosphere. It left behind a greenish streak and many who witnessed the event said that the bolide made a hissing noise as it moved quickly through the sky.

 

In the early morning an impact point had been found. An enormous hole had been made where the projectile had hit and earth was pile all around it. The brush nearby was on fire and blue smoke was rising up from the impact point.

 

This was the beginning of a fictitious encounter with extra terrestrials that would soon lay to waste an entire planet.

 

For the past four weeks I can’t help but think that I have been thrust into something that feels similar to that chapter in Welle’s classic. Much like the Radio show that came in the 1930’s. The "Aussie Bloke" saga had many people talking about some sort of major event coming from space.

 

Well, hoax or not it needs to be reported that many events have taken place and one has to wonder why these huge fireballs have been reported by news generating organizations but have escaped the popular news programs. These events are far more intriguing than some terrorist event or war story.

 

I recall that when the radio show "War of the Worlds" was broadcast many people thought that the play about the invasion from Mars was real. They secretly worried that perhaps a threat loomed over the horizon and that is why they panicked when Orson Wells broadcast that an invisible threat had taken over Grover’s Mill New Jersey.

 

That didn’t mean that a threat didn’t exist.

 

There really was an enemy preparing to attack. History eventually shows that after the broadcast a more earthbound enemy was found in Nazi Germany and Japan.

 

It was a coincidental metaphor, a preemptive sounding of the alarm. It may have been a hoax, but the world eventually faced a real war.

 

Does life imitate art? Or is it part of the trixter’s cosmic joke?

 

It seems that the times we live in seem to reflect the writings of the visionaries and we all wonder if perhaps the story book scenarios that haunt us are becoming reality.

 

We have heard that we live in the times spoken of by the biblical John the revelator, or the futurists Aldous Huxley and George Orwell.

 

If the sky falls we run like chicken littles to our bunkers and blow the dust off of the quatrains by Nostradamus to see if perhaps his creepy haikus give any indication that we are living in strange and wondrous times.

 

We all know that we are.

 

Who knows why we are so quick to think that the end is near and that the countdown to extinction has begun?

 

Perhaps we are all wired into believing that a major catastrophe is looming over us. It is a frightening thought that the majority of breathing humans believe that our time here is nearing its end.

 

At the end of Bill Clinton’s New Book "My Life" the former president writes about the lessons he learned in his life. He speaks of letting go of his anger forgiving those that have persecuted him. His words trail off into some philosophical narrative about death and dying.

 

He said that in the many black churches he has visited he has heard funerals referred to as "home goings."

 

"We're all going home," he wrote, "and I want to be ready."

 

It seems similar to the same statements that were made by President George W. Bush about the future when he spoke to reporter Bob Woodward.

 

"History, we don't know. We'll all be dead."—George W. Bush

 

In contrast, we have just put to rest our former President Ronald Reagan. During his lifetime he was known as the great communicator and regardless of what you thought of his policies, and even though he showed the wear and tear of a man whose golden years had passed him, his quotes about the future gave us hope.

 

"While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future."—Ronald Reagan

 

Ronald Reagan was slowly fading away into his elder years ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease and still managed to keep a positive outlook on the future.

 

It is troubling to hear our leaders of today speaking as if there is no future.

 

Many politicians and leaders before them have spoken about the future and about how our outlooks can be hopeful. They spoke of growth and prosperity and blessings bestowed upon our nation if we uphold our values and keep the faith.

 

I suppose that people like Clinton and Bush have no values and know that their actions have probably sealed our fate as a nation. They speak as if we are all doomed because their efforts to put us closer to our own demise have been evident.

 

I know I joke about doomsday from time to time, and many people chide me about being a doomsayer, but now I have to keep saying to myself that I could be kidding, and at the same time I couldn’t be more serious.

 

It is business as usual in the apocalypse and while June 20th was not the magical date for an apocalyptic cataclysm you can take heart in knowing that in nature what a little caterpillar thinks is the end of the world a butterfly knows is only the beginning.

 

I believe that we have not seen the end of these space anomalies and that when we look up into the sky we will understand just how small we are in comparison to the universe and all of it's unknowns waiting to reveal themselves to us here on earth.

 

I also believe that when someone infers that the end is near and there is a date given, there will be a number of people who will invent a prepackaged scenario of how it is supposed to be.

 

When the SNOWBALL NET broadcast was made and the statement of "impact" was given it allowed over active imaginations to employ an end of the world thought form.

 

This is normal.

 

The unfortunate thing is that there have been so many self styled seers and prophets that use doomsday as a means to gain followers and to sell an idea that the only way to survive the "end times" is to surrender to some half baked philosophy or dogmatic religious practice.

 

Most of their predictions have been wrong.

 

However in my opinion the predictions of impact events in June were fulfilled. Most of them were downplayed and virtually ignored by the mainstream media.

 

The question is why?

 

It is especially troubling that NASA reported back in March of 2004 that an asteroid flew past Earth and that it was so close that it nearly entered the orbital halo where weather satellites circle the earth. The Asteroid was spotted on March 15th. Scientists say that while there was no threat there are still hundreds of thousands more where that one came from.

 

Still there is no major news story or overwhelming public demand for safety from extraterrestrial threats. Money is thrown around for the war effort and people demand justice for some criminal activities being committed by a small group of fanatics and yet they will barely burst a blood vessel worrying about the possible impacts of asteroids and comets on the planet.

 

In case you didn't know, there is no established chain of command to the White House in relation to possible asteroid impacts, nor is there any plan for what government agencies should do regarding possible evacuations or emergency preparations if a big one is seen heading toward the earth.

 

This may be why our leaders are speaking about "going home" and how "we will all be dead." With this type of mindset it is evident to me that they know exactly what is coming next.

 

The end.

 

http://www.clydelewis.com/dis/snowballs/snowballs.htm

 

 

LASEST METEOR REPORT 30 JUNE 2004 (yet another impact!!)

 

This is the last e-mail from myself.

 

I just thought you would be interested.

 

You guys don't think this is strange though? a few meteors sighted in a year is common, but this many in a few months is just not right.

 

There is talk that the Earth is going through a space debris cloud, that is brining in the asteroids and meteors.

 

All the info is on the Internet for you to see it for yourselves. Just open your eyes and the risks are real.

 

Some people don't take NEO's (near earth objects) seriously enough. Why do people seem to forget the danger we are in? A meteor wiped out the dinosaurs and we are due another big one soon.

 

 

Last Update: Wednesday, June 30, 2004. 3:14pm (AEST)

 

 

 

Meteorite reported in southern WA

 

 

 

The Perth Observatory says it has had reports a meteor has crashed near Walpole in Western Australia's south.

 

Witnesses say they saw a large, fiery object zigzagging through the sky at about 5:30pm yesterday.

 

The witnesses say the object left a trail of thick smoke and then they heard a bang.

 

The observatory says it appears the object was travelling somewhere between Perth and Albany in a south-south easterly direction.

 

Walpole resident Heather Burton was in her backyard when she saw the object.

 

She says it was unlike a normal shooting star.

 

"A shooting star usually just goes straight across or straight down - this one had these gradual zigzags just coming down," she said.

 

Alex Bevan from the WA Museum says the reports indicate the sightings were the result of a fireball generated by a meteorite.

 

"We're certainly picking up reports of a bright fireball and sonic phenomena associated - I'm absolutely sure - with the fall of a meteorite," Dr Bevan said.

 

Dr Bevan says it will be difficult to find where the meteorite landed.

 

"Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be as many observations, so actually pinning down where the object landed might be a bit difficult and in that area, the vegetation might mean searching for it would be difficult," he said.

 

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200406/s1143829.htm

 

 

 

Tuesday, July 6, 2004

 

They´re after what´s rocking our world

Brothers hunt world for meteorites -- and now they´re here

 

By M.L. LYKE

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

 

TACOMA -- In search of space booty, the Hupe brothers have bartered with Bedouins, scoured the Sahara, jet-trotted halfway across America on a moment´s notice, bankrolls in hand.

 

But the Hupes´ latest meteorite hunt zooms in right here at home.

 

 

Scott Eklund / P-I

Meteorite hunters and brothers, Adam, left, and Greg Hupe, hold up two meteorites from their vast collection.

The two brothers want a piece of the action from the stunning June 3 meteor show, a booming flash-dance over Snohomish that turned night to day.

 

They aren´t alone. Three teams from three states are working the fall, trying to trace the trajectory of the meteor, and the site where it may, possibly, have deposited a bit of exotic and -- if discovered -- pricey debris from outer space.

 

"The meteor fell on my birthday, and it´s in my own back yard. It´s ridiculous!" says Adam Hupe, 42. He´s 11 months older than Greg and equally excitable when talking falling space rocks.

 

The brothers, overgrown Hardy Boys who sold a multimillion-dollar computer company to focus on their hobby, have amassed one of the world´s largest private collections of meteorites in a few short years.

 

"They´re relatively new to the scene, but they´ve rather quickly become major players," says Robert Matson, a respected space scientist working out of Seal Beach, Calif.

 

Most of the Hupes´ specimens come from North African desert lands, and some are worth thousands more than their weight in gold. But the brothers have no Washington space specimens.

 

No surprise. An estimated 13,000 meteors fall to our planet each year. Yet only five scientifically recognized meteorites have ever been found in our state.

 

 

 

"Believe me," says Adam, "once the first confirmed piece shows up here, I´m all over it -- we both are."

 

The Hupes, who´ll be featured in an upcoming Outside magazine profile, are local go-to guys for hopeful earthlings bearing strange black rocks. And they have already fielded some duds from our June fireworks show.

 

Callers reported weird piles of rocks that suddenly appeared in Shoreline after the June 3 streaker. They turned out to be road gravel. A big black chunk found near Sea-Tac was asphalt -- more terrestrial ho-hum.

 

"You have to tell these people gingerly, let them down slowly," says Greg.

 

"They get so excited," says Adam.

 

 

Alien rocks fetch big bucks

 

The Hupes (pronounced "Who-pays") grew up as the only boys among six children. They were buddies from the get-go.

 

"Were we close? Yeah!" says Adam.

 

"Oh, yeah," says Greg, head nodding.

 

They began treasure hunting in earnest at ages 11 and 12, when their father, an Army general, gave them their first metal detector, used to dig up centuries-old treasures in old buildings. The two call meteorite hunting "the ultimate treasure hunt."

 

Greg and Adam were in their 20s when they launched a computer hardware business in their mother´s basement and garage. By the time they retired at 37 and 38, they had turned it into the multimillion-dollar-a-year enterprise called Computer Performance.

 

The Hupes had all the boy toys -- homes, sleek cars, RVs, boats -- and no time to use them. Weary of long hours and constant pressure, they cashed out just before the stock market collapsed, dumped the "stuff" and turned their attention to the hunt.

 

Currently, Adam lives in a tiny, bare-bones apartment near Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. Greg is headed out to Florida in a U-Haul truck he bought at a bargain rate, with plans to hunt treasure from sunken galleons and search fossils. They´re both single, and if heaven falls, travel-ready in an instant.

 

Insiders say the Hupes have brought a new business sensibility to the collection of meteorites. They invest serious money in their North African expeditions, hire dealers who speak Berber dialects to recruit nomad hunters, and offer sizable rewards for discoveries.

 

When not overseas themselves, they communicate with dealers via e-mail and cell phone, which is how they learned about the discovery of half a martian rock. They called their dealer, told him to send out nomads to find the other part. When their man had Part Two in hand, Greg hopped a 30-hour flight, met him at the airport, and tried to subdue his eagerness as he fit the pieces together.

 

The two had a code phrase -- "The eagle has landed" -- to confirm the fit.

 

When Greg uttered it, Adam began to whoop and holler.

 

"And I had to remain calm and composed!" says Greg. "If they know you´re excited, you won´t get it."

 

Meteors from asteroids are relatively common. But the brothers´ chunk of the Red Planet is one of only 31 confirmed martians on record. There are also 31 confirmed finds from the moon.

 

The Hupes have prized pieces from both, including the coveted "Desert Lady," so-called because the large lunar rock passed through so many hands before they acquired it.

 

A single thin slice of that white-and-gray moon meteorite listed on the Bonhams and Butterfields auction site at $45,000 to $65,000. It sold for even more.

 

"Once you pull something like that, you´re addicted," says Adam.

 

"It´s life-changing," says Greg.

 

 

Collectors elbow out scientists

 

Meteorites have always excited the human imagination. Each is a story, an ancient telling of planetary origins that stirs big-think philosophizing.

 

"You´re holding something billions of years old in your hand. You´re holding the oldest material in the solar system -- the beginning of time as we know it," says Greg.

 

The thrill of the find hasn´t changed, but the market surrounding it has transformed dramatically.

 

A half-century ago, the leading collector in the country drove around Arizona in a beat-up pickup, with a giant magnet strapped underneath.

 

Today, private dealers trade hundreds of specimens on eBay and billions-year-old space rocks pull million-dollar prices in heady collecting circles. The lure of loot has set off a modern-day gold rush, with Indiana Jones adventurers scouting far corners of the Earth, aggressive dealers cutting secret deals for specimens, and collectors paying stratospheric prices for crumbs of planetary crusts.

 

The Hupes -- who say they only occasionally sell meteorites, and only to support their habit -- are in the thick of the collecting fray, ready to act in an eye blink.

 

Last year, Adam had a flight booked to Illinois 10 minutes after learning a meteorite had crashed through the roof of a police and fire station outside Chicago. He set up shop in front of the station, working out of a rental car trunk, cash in hand. In a TV interview, he told viewers with fresh finds to "bring ´em on in" -- he´d be the one in front of the station in the yellow jacket.

 

Some 30 other dealers and collectors from around the globe were right behind him. "Competitors saw it on the news. The next day, they all showed up in yellow jackets," says Adams. Prices quickly escalated from $1 to $2 a gram to $20.

 

Scientists have conflicting opinions about the current "Wild West" scene surrounding meteorites.

 

It´s true, they say, that more hunters, more dealers, more collectors, mean more uncovered meteoritic material. But it´s also true that prime specimens are not always available for scientific study, that many lack adequate field documentation, and most are priced beyond reach of cash-strapped academics.

 

"Unfortunately, because of all the collectors, the cost has gone really high. That´s a problem for researchers and museums trying to compete," says Don Brownlee, noted astronomy professor at the UW.

 

Reputable collectors like the Hupes rely on scientists to verify their samples. In turn, they make a point of donating pieces of rare finds to them. "When a researcher asks us to buy material, we won´t charge them, because they are enhancing the value of our collection by studying it," says Adam.

 

"If they want it for personal reasons, we´ll do a trade."

 

Not everyone takes the high ground. So-called "cowboy" hunters often flaunt collecting laws. "There are some shady people out there. They may say things fell on their property, when it fell on public property ... or they may take things out of countries that have restrictions on collecting," says John Schutt, a geologist and professional mountaineering guide in Bellingham who, for years, has been recovering meteorites in Antarctica for scientific study.

 

Spotting meteorites on wind-swept, bare blue ice is relatively easy. The Antarctic teams drive back and forth in snowmobiles and look for dark objects.

 

"They´re just everywhere," says Schutt. "We´ve found upward of 3,000 to 4,000 in relatively restricted areas."

 

Spotting meteorites around the Puget Sound area is another matter.

 

Meteorites hide themselves well in a wet green landscape dense with trees and scrub and littered with dark rocks. And they can quickly turn to rust in the rain -- in a geological time frame.

 

"Western Washington is the worst place to find one," says Tony Irving, lecturer in earth and space sciences at the UW. "Unless this one hit something or came through a roof, it´s going to be tough."

 

Tough, but tantalizing. "Anytime you have a sonic boom like that, the chance of having surviving meteorites is pretty high," says UW astronomer Brownlee, who estimates the June 3 meteor was "bigger than a cow."

 

The UW represents one of three teams currently tracking the June 3 fall. Scientists there have used seismographs to place the meteor explosion about six miles northeast of Snohomish.

 

A Portland team is interviewing witnesses and triangulating their accounts of the event, attempting to pinpoint the site.

 

A team from California is using camera images and interviews to track the trajectory. "It´s a little like forensics," says Matson, a principal investigator on the team. "You have to figure out what´s real, what´s right, what´s wrong."

 

His team has already sent meteorite hunters to an undisclosed site east of Snohomish.

 

After a week, they came back empty-handed, reporting difficulties with thick vegetation and scanty road access.

 

The Hupes are eagerly monitoring all three teams´ work.

 

"What we´re doing is riding all the teams," says Adam. "We told them, whoever finds the first legitimate piece, we´re part of that team."

 

Behind them, expect an alien horde of hunters, dealers and collectors to descend, hot on their trail.

 

 

ALIEN ROCKS

 

Unlike ordinary terrestrial rocks, meteorites typically have a dark fusion crust, from their burning plunge into the Earth´s atmosphere. Many also have elemental iron, not native to our planet, which quickly rusts in the uncongenially moist climate of the Northwest. About 90 percent of meteorites are attracted to magnets.

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/180904_meteor06.html

 

 

Think he could have found the BIG one?

 

San Francisco-AP -- A Mountain View-based astronomer who keeps an eye on asteroids that could threaten Earth is the winner of a prestigious science award.

 

David Morrison has been awarded the Carl Sagan Medal by the American Astronomical Society.

 

Morrison works at NASA's Astrobiology Institute at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View. He tracks the flight paths of asteroids that could be on a collision course with our planet.

 

Such events are extremely rare, but Morrison likes to remind people that nearly 100 years ago a meteorite crashed into a remote area in Siberia.

 

Besides tracking meteors, Morrison has been on the science teams of the Voyager spacecraft that explored Jupiter and Saturn and the Galileo mission to Jupiter.

 

The Sagan medal is the highest award given out by the Division for Planetary Sciences.

 

 

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=2027156

 

A BURST OF METEORS OVER FINNISH COASTAL WATERS EARLY ON

 

Posted By: NASAGUY end E-Mail>

Date: Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 9:16 a.m.

 

Hey, I'm just the informer!

 

Helsinki - A burst of meteors over Finnish coastal waters early on Tuesday prompted hundreds of Finns to mistakenly report the natural phenomenon as emergency flares from distressed vessels, officials said.

 

"The shower might have lasted just a few seconds, but so far we have received over 70 calls. The first hour was very busy here," said Matti Salokorpi, senior lieutenant with the maritime rescue centre in Vaasa, some 420 kilometres northwest of Helsinki.

 

On a normal night the rescue centre might get around 10 calls, he said, adding that Vaasa's ambulance and fire services had received as many calls due to the natural phenomenon created when space debris hits the earth's atmosphere at high speed.

 

Several other rescue centres along the Finnish west coast reported numerous similar calls, according to media here.

 

One of the callers, cruising in his pleasure boat off the coast, described the phenomenon as a red fireball moving swiftly through the night sky, spewing sparks and leaving a trail of vapour before turning white as it entered the atmosphere, Finnish news agency FNB reported.

 

A glowing meteor could easily be mistaken for an emergency flare, which is an international alarm signal for sailors in need of assistance, Salokorpi said.

 

 

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,6119,2-13-1443_1556905,00.html

[Aardvark]

''The BBC reports that British archeologists and members of the Military are trapped in underground caves in Mexico. Flash flood waters nearly drown the men and Mexican authorities are called in to rescue them. The British refuse the help of Mexican authorities and demand to be rescued by their own Military. Mexican President Vicente Fox was unaware that any members of the British Military were in his country and he needed answers. Were the men looking for underground shelters in case of a large asteroid impact? ''

 

 

What use an underground shelter in limestone caves prone to flooding several thousand miles from home base?

 

Apply Occams razor. Be a bit more discriminating about your sources and evidence, then your arguments might be taken seriously.

[Dave]

Moving this to pseudoscience because GD doesn't really seem the best place for it and I can't think of anywhere else to put it.

[olmpiad]

Meteorites have always excited the human imagination. Each is a story, an ancient telling of planetary origins that stirs big-think philosophizing.

 

That is not entirely true. Yes, people saw them, nut not everyone was amazed by them. In fact, until the 1700's, people were not aware of what a meteorite was. If someone said the rocks were from space, they would usually be charged.

[JohnB]

with a final cataclysmic event to take place on June 20th, 2004.

Bugger, I missed it, must have slept in that day.

[CPL.Luke]

for reference a car sized meteriorite would result in an explosion equivalent to a nuclear bomb.

 

an increased number of meteors could be attributed to the perseid meteor shower, which was especially intense this year (not that I could see however

[insane_alien]

yeah it's cloudy here too can't see the damn things