NEWS: Meteorite reported hitting near Olympia Wash is a hoax

I read and/or heard earlier that this object over Washington was about the size of a pc monitor. As to why it's a complete surprise is obvious to me because of it's small size.

I believe I heard that the Earth is impacted by an object that detonates or explodes when hitting the atmosphere with an equivalent energy of an atom bomb about every day on average. Anyway the small objects (rocks etc.) are much more numerous than the big 1 km or greater asteroids and comets. Currently most space efforts are only focusing on the big ones due to technology constraints I believe.

At www.space.com...
I read that there may be millions of the smaller size asteroids that are 300 ft (100m) or less in near earth orbits. The majority of these are unknown and current efforts are lucky if they spot them I believe. Since these much smaller and undetected asteroids (objects, rocks, etc.) are much greater in number, they will and do strike the Earth much more often than the so called doomsday asteroids. The thinking is that the next big asteroid strike that we will notice will be in the range of 165 ft to 300 ft. See the link for more info.

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by orionthehunter]

hey guys, an msnbc link:

www.msnbc.msn.com...

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by onlyinmydreams]

Isn't this rather misleading, especially as Top Story?
People will start to believe that there was no Meteor at all, when there very much was one!

I know a Meteorite did not land like previously claimed, but there was a major event and I think it is importent that it is not lost in confusion!

I'll have to agree with Agent Smith, the header on this story is very misleading and the relevant part of the story is not a hoax. Definately what I would call a spin and anyone who reads no further a non-story. After one see's the word hoax connected with a story - immediately all other mentions of that story become hoaxs in the readers mind. Subsequently I've placed a 3-letter acronym by your name Muaddib.

I'm in the Seattle area and I was barely awake at the time with the television on with minimal volume and suddenly I heard a load noise and I thought someone was trying to get in my house. I was scared #less as I immediately got up threw on a bathrobe and popped a round in the chamber thinking that I was going to have to confront a possible intruder.

After I got back in bed I sat there thinking with such a load noise how come he never came in. I kept replaying the sound in my head trying to connect it with something I was familiar with, but I could not. The closest I could come was a person on a ladder with the ladder falling while brushing the side of my house. I have metal siding (covering the beautiful cedar). Still I just couldn't match the sound & I went to sleep puzzled with one eye open.

Now that I think about it (while not half asleep) the sound was very much like the sonic booms I remember hearing regularly in the late 60's in California and our garage door would vibrate for a short time afterwords.

It wasn't until I heard the news later today, that I realized that the noise was the meteorite and not some soon to be lead filled intruder. Finally a moment of clarity to remove my earlier paranoid delusion of somebody trying to break into my house.

The light emitted by the meteorite was enough to invoke the light sensors on my outdoor lights to behave as if it was dusk as they are set to remain on for a period of time after it gets dark, also these lights come on with motion which was another reason I thought I had an intruder on my hands. Hoax Not!


[Edited on 4-6-2004 by outsider]

if we knew a meteorite had hit? Why would this hoax smoke screen be thrown up over something that, until now, has been the subject of highschool science books. Why, all of the sudden, is this one meteor being ram-rodded as a hoax? Is there some looming dissaster on the horizon that this precursor would indicate? Otherwise, why try to disclaim it ever happened?

I agree with the the title of this story being misleading.

Meteorite may not have hit, but it certainly passed over washington and the effects were caught on tape. (see the parking lot video)

whether it disintegrated, "landed", or whatever, something odd was in the sky.

Originally posted by AgentSmith
Isn't this rather misleading, especially as Top Story?
People will start to believe that there was no Meteor at all, when there very much was one!

The use of the word hoax in a TOP STORY headline is a bit judgemental.
Evidence implies that the object may have made it to low altitude.
Judging by the wide area of reporting, there may have been more than one.
If something did survive to ground, it would be small, but still a meteorite.
Suppose such (spherules?) are subsequently found, what then?
Another ATS headline labelling the residue analysis is a hoax?

The reading audience sees the headline first,
� and for rushed readers the headline becomes the story.
To label the whole story a hoax strains board credibility,
� reflecting upon us all.

On the other hand, something like "Hoaxster strikes during meteor event"
� or some such variant might be more appropriate.
It may not have even been a deliberate hoax -
� some people are so excitable that they see anything in such an event.
Such as nuclear bomb. or, beamed up by space aliens. (Seattle Times)
This event occurred as bar patrons locally were digesting their 'last call'.

Orionthehunter, the US has the ability to track over 2,000 man made space junk objects some less then 1/2 inch in size, simultaneously orbiting the planet at any given moment. And you are saying they are completly blind to a high velocity space rock travelling first into the stratosphere then on down to an elevation of less then 5,000 feet, and you think it is acceptable that the Goverment had no clue (so they say) that this thing was A even there and B had not only penetrated the atmosphere but penetrated US air space as well, without a single person in the Goverments NORAD system even being aware ????

Something sounds mighty fishy to me.

Originally posted by outsider
I'll have to agree with Agent Smith, the header on this story is very misleading and the relevant part of the story is not a hoax.

The heading of this story is not misleading, its the truth. There was no "meteorite" crashing in Washington, it was a hoax. That's what this news story is about.

If I had put in the heading "meteor over Washington is a hoax", then it would have been misleading. Anyways do you guys know how many "meteors" enter our atmosphere everyday?

BTW...you guys choose and end of the world scenario when I finally get two job offers to work as an engineer...it figures...

[Edited on 4-6-2004 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by worldwatcher Meteorite may not have hit, but it certainly passed over washington and the effects were caught on tape. (see the parking lot video)

Not misleading at all. Meteorites hit, they do not "pass over". Meteors pass over, they do not hit. So, the headline: "Meteorite reported hitting near Olympia Wash is a hoax" is an appropriate, correct, and factual headline for the lead story of this thread. Yes, there are still reports of an actual meteor, but not a meteorite.

Some more info on the size... Space.com

lol..you had to go get all technical with me
to me, meteor, meteorite all meant the same...flying space rock
i take it back, you guys are right

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by worldwatcher
Meteorite may not have hit, but it certainly passed over washington and the effects were caught on tape. (see the parking lot video)

Not misleading at all.

Meteorites hit, they do not "pass over". Meteors pass over, they do not hit.

So, the headline: "Meteorite reported hitting near Olympia Wash is a hoax" is an appropriate, correct, and factual headline for the lead story of this thread.

Yes, there are still reports of an actual meteor, but not a meteorite.

My only concern really was, that as there is no Top News story on the Meteor that spectacularly exploded over Washington on ATSNN (not that I could clearly see anyway!) then a lot of people may get confused and think the whole event was a hoax.

Admittedly it would be their own fault for not reading things properly, but I am just anxious that the Meteor story will get lost in the Meteorite Hoax story.

As there are even several video clips and lots of eyewitness accounts, including those of people here on the board, it would seem to be a real shame if that happened.

The timing, of course, with the AB events (ARRGGH!) are, of course, quite amusing - though I would imagine the fact that we are entering a period of several meteor showers would be more to do with it! (Hopefully anyway!! )

All in all, all I really want to say is that it would be good to bring at least as much attention to the very real meteor event that occured, as there is on the Hoax part of the event.

EDIT - I added the last paragraph!!



[Edited on 4-6-2004 by AgentSmith]

Meteors happen very often. We're certainly not going to report on one just because it happens, just as the national media does not. However, the only reason this story made national news was because of the report that a meteorite hit the earth. The timing of this event with the Aussie Bloke hoax caused a great deal of new speculative paranoia on the board... as such, it was my decision to briefly call attention to the hoax meteorite report on ATSNN because of the connections being made to Aussie Bloke's story.

Where did the 5000 feet figure come from? You say that no backgroud objects were illuminated, however I see plenty of illumination on the trees in the background. In addition, you say that the level of light wasn't diffuse enough to be a high-up explosion. Does the sun count into that equasion? It generates pretty tight shadows. They say it was bring enough to light the entire night sky too, so why wouldn't the shadows be relatively sharp?

The quote (Or was it a paraphrase? There were no quotation marks) was pretty interesting too. While I am sure there are plenty of astronomers who are keeping watch on the skys, there is only so much you can track from Earth.

~P

Originally posted by robertfenix
Okay I just read the report from the Seattle paper and watched the three videos they posted on the event. And I can say that someone is not telling the truth.

First off the amount of light emitted and bounced off the ground rules out that this thing was high up. MAX 5,000 feet if not less.

Second after watching the light reflections and the limited scope of illumination on the surroundings leads me to believe that it was traveling straight and fast, just over 2.5 seconds of illumination even at a distance from the video clip at ground level with the fence on the right side leaving you with an almost head on exposure to the flight path. Which again rules out the object being high up as the observation time would be much longer, as well as the illuminessence a lot less.

Third the view from the (on top a building) looking down into a parking lot you can see the direction of the shadwos being cast as the object travels overhead and slightly to the left off the video image. IF the object was higher in the air, the light defussion would be greater and their would be longer shadows being cast. Again adding data to the fact that this thing passed over low and fast.

Forth it should be classed as a meteorite seeing as something that low and with the ability to cast that much light must have had some mass that made it to the surface, if it was just a meteor I doubt it would have been able to throw off as much light

Oh and here is a quote from the paper

Ralph Gaume, head of astronometry at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., said he knew of no likely source from outer space, such as a passing comet or meteor cluster or shower, but added that meteors commonly appear at random.

Astronometry is the branch of astronomy that measures the size and location of celestial objects.

Anyone else find this odd ?? That the Astronometry branch says it had no clue about this object, and that in fact things can appear at "random" without their knowledge ????? WHAT THE HECK

That gives me a lot of confidence then in their ability as a early warning system.

What if this thing was 10 times the size? Would they have seen it then ????


[Edited on 3-6-2004 by robertfenix]

Originally posted by Muaddib

Originally posted by outsider
I'll have to agree with Agent Smith, the header on this story is very misleading and the relevant part of the story is not a hoax.

The heading of this story is not misleading, its the truth. There was no "meteorite" crashing in Washington, it was a hoax.

There appears to have been a hoax by one person calling in a strike,
� but it sounds more and more like there are real meteorites involved.

From The Oregonian:

Dick Pugh, a meteor expert with the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University, said fragments of the space rock could have landed in the Chehalis-Centralia area in Washington. "My guess is that we have meteorites on the ground, but the trick is how we find them," he said. "We hope that someone will find a hole in the roof of their garage or barn."

"We haven't had a fireball with a sonic boom since the mid-1990s," Pugh said. "That means it slowed below 700 mph, so that's why I think fragments may have reached the ground."

Congratulations: you have labelled as hoaxster, by inference,
� in no less than a story headline on the front page portal of ATSNN,
� Dick Pugh, a meteor expert.

His website: Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory, Portland State University

Hoax my ass!

I was awake that night as I often am, outside having a smoke. I was up in Everett, staying at my moms house. The sky lit up to the south, then I heard the thundering crackle and boom. it was a clear night, but because of the wierd weather, i had assumed it was distant thunder, perhaps to the south around Mt Rainier. I went out to the street to see if I could see any lightning and #, but saw nothing, no clouds. It was enough to scare the # out of the dogs and make them start barking like mad.

I saw on the news about a meteor hitting the next day, and figured thats what I saw.

But this aint no Hoax. Something hit, alright, or something made the flash and crack.

My local news station in VA ran video footage of the alleged meteor that was caught by a security surveillance camera. Anyone else seen such a clip?

Originally posted by skullone
My local news station in VA ran video footage of the alleged meteor that was caught by a security surveillance camera. Anyone else seen such a clip?

Here is one of them:
rense.com...

I've clarified the main story a bit, since it seems people are still misinterpreting things.

1. A METEOR flashed over the Pacific Northwest.
2. Someone claiming to be a scientist told the AP that a METEORITE crashed in WA state.
3. As a METEORITE did not crash in WA state, the person-who-isn't-a-scientist was lying/hoaxing about a LANDING in WA state.

Savvy?