Update: D’oh! I did a dumb thing– I didn’t check the date on the article. This happened over two years ago! I thought this story was familiar, but didn’t have time to check up on it, and wanted to get it up on the blog so others could see it. Well, lesson learned on my part. Sorry about this, folks.
Did a meteorite hit in eastern India, injuring people?
According to this BBC article, a fireball fell from the sky on March 25, setting fire to houses and injuring three people (there is also another, earlier, article saying 20 people were hurt).
It sounds legit, but I’m not actually convinced. Most of the time, these reports turn out to be exaggerated or even false. And in general, meteorites don’t cause fires unless the incoming meteoroid is really big. Accurate information on this is very hard to come by.
If anyone finds more info, please leave a comment here! I am always interested in following up on events like this.
March 29th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
The article you linked and all others that I could find were dated 2003. I thought it was a bit of a coincidence that Orissa would receive two such strikes, so I started looking at the dates on the articles. Sounds like there may be some cross-linking going on.
March 29th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
I believe that article is from September 2003.
March 29th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
I agree with Tim. Just look at the date line at the top of the article.
“Last Updated: Monday, 29 September, 2003, 14:43 GMT 15:43 UK”
March 29th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Possible confusion from the bump of this story on Universe Today?
March 29th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Not only that, BA already commented on it:
http://www.bautforum.com/archive/index.php/t-7639.html
March 29th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Oh man, I thought this was new! My mistake. I remember meteorites over India, but I didn’t have time to do any searches. OK, scratch this. I’ll post a note in the entry itself.
March 29th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
~shakes head~
You people are gullible.
March 29th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
It was last nights solar eclipse. When they occur at night, you know weird things will happen.
March 29th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
There was a solar eclipse here where I live today. The clouds eclipsed the sun.
I asked a friend of mine about that original article. He’s a meteor expert, and he says there’s no way they would start fires. If you see a fall, you can pick it up with your hand.
March 30th, 2006 at 1:46 am
Speaking of India, does anyone know of the “blood-red rain” that fell in some parts of Kerala in July 2001? http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/blood-red-rain-in-kerala-of-extraterrestrial-origin/
I was in India at that time but didn’t see any such news on Indian media. Perhaps it was blocked in order to curb any panic. However some scientists have analysed samples and found that the red colour was due to a meteorite disintegration in the atmosphere which pumped 5 tons of this material into the air, which came down mixed with the rain water. They also found that the samples contained a sort of DNA-less bacteria - which they even cultured in the lab.
March 30th, 2006 at 5:47 am
Ahem… Rohin: [b]bad word deleted[/b]. That link doesn’t go anywhere, and if scientists had discovered some DNA-less bacteria in 2001, it would have been all over the news, and everyone in the world would know about it by now.
March 30th, 2006 at 8:03 am
A small meteorite could start a fire, not from its own heat, but from hitting a fireplace, clay oven (mmmm, tandori chicken), gas line, etc.
Also, in the same manner that heart attack victims during earthquakes are listed as casualties, similar deaths and panic induced injuries could be attributed to meteors. I don’t necessarily agree with such tactics, but they seem to be generally accepted by news organizations.
March 30th, 2006 at 8:24 am
Oh well!
March 30th, 2006 at 8:40 am
Doh!
BA made a mistook?
Well, at least he corrected it, unlike some folk,,, Must have a good sense of self esteem (insert psycho babble here) to freely admit HE DON”T KNOW EVERYTHING. Well, he is a scientist and like most scientists, somewhat fearless.
Gary 7
March 30th, 2006 at 10:20 am
@BB
The link works fine for me. I’m skeptical of the conclusions that it’s e.t. life. Try Googling for more info.
From the above link:
[quote]Blood-red colored rain fell over Kerala on July 25, 2001. It continued for two months, raining crimson, turning clothes pink, burning leaves on trees. In some places, the rain fell in scarlet sheets. Its extraterrestrial origin is now being accepted in international circles.
Scientists at that time concluded that the rain was red because winds had swept up dust from Arabia and dumped it on Kerala.
Dr Godfrey Louis, a Reader in Physics at the School of Pure and Applied Physics at the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam, Kerala, disagreed. He diligently gathered rain samples and, after months of painstaking research, concluded: ‘The red particles, which caused the red rain of Kerala, are of extraterrestrial origin.’…[/quote]
March 30th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
The source for the red rain article is
http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/08gspec.htm
It mentions that this was the cover story for the March issue of New Scientist and the Dr.’s research will be published in Astrophysics and Space Science.
The delay doesn’t bother me. It’s not uncommon for scientists to delay the publication of controversial theories until they are very sure that they are not making a mistake.
March 30th, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Here’s another link, from New Scientist online:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg19025453.100-red-rain-puzzle-is-still-up-in-the-air.html
the lead-in:
It is looking increasingly unlikely that the red particles in rain that fell over southern India in 2001 are alien microbes, but their identity remains a mystery
OK…WOW. Now I am getting a little excited!
March 30th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
Phil,
Hey man, don’t worry about it!:)
Blood red rain? Probably some sort of reddish dust.
March 31st, 2006 at 12:34 am
Red rain extraterrestrial?
What did Carl Sagan say..extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence?
April 1st, 2006 at 2:17 am
Extraterrestrial claims require extraterrestrial evidence.
April 1st, 2006 at 5:54 am
I remember reading the article in NS. The particles contained no DNA but were about the size of red blood cells. There were no real conclusions (and I can’t find the issue to re-read it) but the particles were biological looking not mineral (dust etc).
Strange for sure.
April 2nd, 2006 at 3:39 pm
That red rain thing isn’t isolated. I have heard stories of rain of varying colors appearing in other parts of the world. Probably just dust or something. It would an amazing coincidence for alien biology to crash land here I think.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Jaganath Meteor Storm 2003.
This event had happened during September 2003, in state of Orissa, wedid have an opportunity to visit the Village Sudsudia, Mayurbhanj District, Orissa, where we did meet Mr.Nayak whose roof of his hut was completely burnt by the fireball, and girl member was so shocked, who revealed the event to us. We did recover good number of samples in Sudsudia, Kendrapara,and other areas where the meteor storm had hit. We published our findings in Current Science of September 2004.