The stuff of science fiction: Villagers fall ill after fireball hits Peru.
A meteorite, invariably described as a fireball, crashed to earth in southern Peru, near the community of Carancas close to Puno, near Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian border last weekend. It left a crater 42 feet wide and 15 feet deep.
Although the BBC reports some experts were initially critical of the crater, casting some doubt on whether the hole was caused by an extraterrestrial object, and not a geological phenomenon.
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But some experts have questioned whether it was a meteorite or some other object that landed in Carancas.
"Increasingly we think that people witnessed a fireball, which are not uncommon, went off to investigate and found a lake of sedimentary deposit, which may be full of smelly, methane rich organic matter," said Dr Caroline Smith, a meteorite expert at the London-based Natural History Museum.
"This has been mistaken for a crater."
"Increasingly we think that people witnessed a fireball, which are not uncommon, went off to investigate and found a lake of sedimentary deposit, which may be full of smelly, methane rich organic matter," said Dr Caroline Smith, a meteorite expert at the London-based Natural History Museum.
"This has been mistaken for a crater."
However, this has since been discounted and analysis confirms that it was indeed a meteor (a chondrite) and not a satellite. No traces of radiation were found.
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Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute, said a geologist had confirmed that it was a "rocky meteorite," based on the fragments analyzed.
Al Jazeera also reports local livestock behaving strangely and refusing to eat.
Comprehensive article at the Associated Press.
