Archivists Uncover Earliest Evidence of a Person Being Killed By a Meteorite (sciencemag.org) 21
sciencehabit writes: Although tales of people being killed by meteorite impacts date back to biblical times, few have been documented until the past decade or so. Now, Turkish researchers have uncovered the earliest evidence that a meteorite killed one man and paralyzed another when it slammed into a hilltop in what is now Iraq in August 1888.
Documents chronicling the event were found in Turkish state archives, the team reports online today in Meteoritics & Planetary Science. According to one of three letters written by local authorities in the region shortly after the event, the killer meteorite was one of several that fell during a 10-minute interval. Reports of a fireball seen in a city nearby suggest the object approached the area from the southeast before it blew up high in the atmosphere.
Documents chronicling the event were found in Turkish state archives, the team reports online today in Meteoritics & Planetary Science. According to one of three letters written by local authorities in the region shortly after the event, the killer meteorite was one of several that fell during a 10-minute interval. Reports of a fireball seen in a city nearby suggest the object approached the area from the southeast before it blew up high in the atmosphere.
Congratulations. (Score:2)
Mission accomplished!
Evidence? (Score:3)
That article doesn't offer much hope that they have tenable evidence. I mean, do they have evidence like the person's name, autopsy report .. something like that? If not, I guess I might technically consider it evidence, but boy it's really flimsy evidence.
Re:Evidence? (Score:5, Funny)
[I]t slammed into a hilltop in what is now Iraq in August 1888.
Strangely enough, the meteorite wiped all the VHS tapes of all the CCTV cameras in the area. Now I know, that's going to cause tons of conspiracy videos on YouTube with chants of "Meteorites Can't Wipe VHS Tapes!", but it happened.
If you would hurry up and finish your flux capacitor, you could go back and verify all this yourself.
Oh, who am I kidding; you have all the time in the world to finish your flux capacitor.
Re: (Score:2)
Strangely enough, the meteorite wiped all the VHS tapes of all the CCTV cameras in the area
Actually tapes and video didn't exist in 1888.
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I'm just gonna go and tick the box that says this might be COVID-related. First case was _way_ earlier than reported, and those damn Ottomans covered it up!
No they didn't. If they've covered up their ottomans then no-one would have caught Covid19 off them in the first place.
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written by local authorities in the region shortly after the event, the killer meteorite was one of several ... but boy it's really flimsy evidence.
There's video taken from a camera that was actually mounted ON the meteor, but the FBI has classified it. It was a failed experiment in meteor steering -- it partially worked and could even ground chase the target after they ran away, but ... continually rolling into his shin was deemed an ineffective killing tool.
Proper interplanetary decorum (Score:2)
Fortunately, asteroids are now being more courteous and practicing proper social distancing. [cnet.com]
Re: No (Score:1)
So it was real? (Score:3)
The Gauls feared the the sky would fall on their heads.
Woah! (Score:4, Informative)
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As opposed to the Greek Gods, who tended to get a hard on whenever they saw a cute chick.
Great. One more thing to worry about ... (Score:3)
Take your mind off pandemic (Score:3)