By the size of the crater (30 meters wide x 6 meters deep), I'd be tempted to call it a small asteroid.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070918...uhealthoffbeat

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I would tend to put that one in the bad reporting thread.
A crater that size is one big story in itself.
And, there's no indication that anyone has any clue what could cause the illness?

Let's hope this is only a preliminary reporting problem. But; the fact that they already catagorized it "offbeat" (by the link), and it took 3 days for the story, tells me they are going to let it drop.

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Yea, I saw that this morn....bad meteorite...making people sick...no donut for you.

Probably the Puruvian government testing out their latest chemical weapon.

A crater in a volcanic region? Strange odor, people getting ill? I know, it must be a meteorite!

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
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http://forgetomori.com/2007/science/...rater-in-peru/

http://www.livinginperu.com/news/4719

Pictures of the impact and more info.

http://video.nbc11.com/player/?id=157540

Video.

Villagers fall ill after fireball hits Peru

Radio reports that fumes from meteorite crater have sickened 600

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20838944/

Why is it that in all the pictures the "crater" just doesn't look like it is 30 meters across?

...and where did the water come from...is it ground water?

...and how could this make 600 people sick...I'm guessing perhaps mass psychosis?

As you can tell, I think that there's something really "fishy" about all this.

Gas explosion?

Did anyone actually see anything to fall?

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

Well, I guess we can say the scene has been contaminated. The people were throwing rocks into the water. Let's get a backhoe and dig out whatever is there and get it to a lab.

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(By the way, I hate it that so many papers in the areas of planetary science and geology are not easily avaiable to the dreaded "non-subscribers". It is like they are screaming at me: "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH". Good, I feel better now.)

I know you are a person who takes his physics seriously, but isn't it said that most great discoveries aren't discovered with "Eureka!" but with, "Hmmm, that's funny." Big Don

Hey look...A hole, from a meteor strike...

But wait, it's not only just a Hole from a meteor strike...

It's a Hole from a meteor strike filled with stinky space water...

Hey look...theres something moving under the water...

Quick, everyone grab a Rock and kill it...

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Astronomy is looking up... :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/sci...00/7000760.stm

A BBC link, the most respected source that i´ve found about this.

Thanks for the link...at least in this picture "it" looks to be closer to 30 meters across.

Now that I'm looking again at the first picture that Orion posted, and it doesn't look like a impact crater so much as it looks like a hole someone dug in the ground.

I know looks can deceive, but shouldn't there be a raised rim of some sort? The "crater" appears to be level with the surrounding terrain, which somehow doesn't seem "right".

Apparently they think it was a chondrite.

I guess it could have contained a appreciable amount of sulfur (or iron sulfide) which turns to sulfuric acid in highly heated water....hmmm.

Quite interesting.


Another report states that "the animals aren't eating" (apparently they are more cautious than humans ) "and the humans are stuttering".

Yep that's a sure sign its a meteorite alright.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7001897.stm

The BBC article, in english.

Well apparently it's confirmed to be a Chondrite...
http://www.livinginperu.com/news-473...is-a-chondrite

Maybe it broke through to a water layer with nasty volcanic gas dissolved in it?

Well, that's interesting if true.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

My first thought was that it was a small volcanic eruption. But given the fact that people did see a fireball and a large expolsion, and there mass been no follow up activity, plus the supposed chondritic fragments, then it may be a small imact. There certainly is a raised rim.

Some metorites, especially the carbaonceous ones, contain minerals that are reactive in water, that might explain the smell. Also if the grounfwater was rich indissolved H2S you could get some noxious gasses too.

Remember we have neve been up close with an impact this size before so soon after it happened. It took days if not weeks to get to the Sikote Alin site.

It's very interesting whatever it is.

Now in the picture from this link, there does seem to be a bit of a raised rim...also it has now shrunk from 30 to 17 meters across.

That's the point I brought up in my previous post ...chondrites can be sulfur rich which could form sulfuric acid upon heat + water. Volcanism isn't required.
Definitely can make one sick.




.

Could this be as mundane as the result of a commercial airliner with a leaky toilet dropping some "green ice?

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