Spectral Analysis
I wonder if any sufficiently sensitive cameras recorded the trail well enough to get a measure of what was ablating from the rock.
Or is it just the Ni2/O2 mix of the plasma shield?
Astronomers are searching for a highly expensive fist-sized meteorite that lit up the skies over Blighty on Saturday night. The fireball plunged to the ground somewhere in Devon, Normandy or in the Bay of Biscay - sparking fears of a downed aeroplane or missile attack. The lump of space metals would be worth its weight in gold …
"Sparking fears of a downed aeroplane or missile attack."
Missile attack??
Please, PLEASE, good people, stop trying to navigate the real world, stay comfortably at home and watch 24 or 48 or something. Indeed, you have fully lost attachment to reality. Still, remember to vote! Because politicians work day and night to protect you from all kinds of dangers!! And they need your support!!!
I hope our several hundred western intelligence agencies and the IAEA and its inspectors would have told you in no uncertain terms (i.e. not using Amano's "I'm gonna freak people out using innuendo based on random faxes from the State Department and the 'smoking laptop' source from MEK") SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE THAT CAN HAPPEN that there was a possibility that Iran had:
1) A military nuclear program
2) The political intent to make a nuke
3) Enough 98% enriched uranium or even plutonium to make a nukes
4) Run tests on that nuke
5) Miniaturized the nuke far enough to put it on an ICBM tip
6) Built the ICBM in question
Currently we are stage 0)
The fact that Iran is enriching uranium to 20% has a simple explanation.
The US gave them a research reactor requiring, I think, 97% enriched uranium. The overthrow of the Shah means fuel was no longer forthcoming, so they have managed, at great expense, to modify said reactor to reduce its requirements to a mere 20% enriched.
Now they make fuel to that specification, and can continue to make isotypes required for treating cancer, etc, and prove the revised design as a basis for future reactor design.
But, regarding their energy programme in general, I think you'll ultimately find that this whole issue is about who's in the supply chain.
Now, oil leaves Iran, is refined elsewhere, and bought back - letting refining nations take a cut of all Iranian oil production, and effectively taxing the consumption of their own resource.
If Iran manages to complete its nuclear energy programme without needing to export raw uranium (of which Iran has a large portion of world supply) to the West for enrichment, it will be an achievement that relegates most of the world to being a mere end customer.
We know nuclear fission is an essential stepping stone on the path to an economy that can rely on future commercial nuclear fusion processes, so insinuating weapons programmes to justify intervention that will maintain Western hegemony over world energy supply is an essential foreign policy objective.
In case you haven't noticed, these Muslim nations are poor enough at their Islamic duty of 'zakat' (charity) amongst themselves, never mind infidels with a begging bowl for energy.
no, it's not yours, it's ours (the gov). You will receive a due reward, a letter of thanks or an item of similar value, from the secretary of the undersecretary of the personal assistant of the No 10 cat's mouse's, to thank you for saving us the trouble of wasting taxpayers' money to try and identify the whereabouts of this lump of rock.
Should you, on the other hand, choose to be less than prompt with the turnover of the said lump...
Respectfully yours,
We, the Gov
p.s. on second thoughts, isn't it the case, that our dear cousins claim property to everything that falls from space, minus Russian ICBMs?
The footage on the Daily Telegraph report shows a full moon at 0:05s. Last night the moon was just over half full.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/nightsky/9121664/Large-meteor-spotted-over-UK.html
I know of no in-camera lens aberration that can make semi-circular light source look completely round, (lots that can make it happen the other way) and if anyone's got a camera that does, then several big manufacturers would pay a small fortune to take a close look at it.
Or else DT is being a bit sloppy with their use of Youtube footage, after all, one burning fireball streaking across the sky does look pretty much like any other.
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My friend showed me a meteorite ball he was given by a farmer who found it in a fresh crater in his field. It felt really heavy, and had the correct "molten layers peeling off" look to it. I filmed it and he said he would try to sell it. AFAIK he still has it. Could it be worth thousands to the right museum?
"Dr Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich told The Independent: "Our own origins are locked up in these pieces of rock. They are pristine material from the beginning of the solar system and hold the ingredients of life. They are a real treasure-trove.""
Does this count as a unique item drop then? What attributes will a weapon forged from this material have?
"Our own origins are locked up in these pieces of rock. They are pristine material from the beginning of the solar system and hold the ingredients of life. "
That rather depends on the meteorite (if anything survives). Chondrites - especially the carbonaceous chondrites are almost pristine - only lacking some of the volatile elements with very early dates, and yes, they contain amino acids; but many other types of meteorite are mineralogically highly evolved with a large range of dates; eucrites from Vesta are over 200 My younger than most meteorites, whilst shergottites from Mars are as young as 180My.
If this chunk did hit the surface, there's not a huge chance of finding it; 90%+ of all known meteorites are stony, which to the untrained eye look like - well - stones. But good luck to anyone who does find a meteorite - just hope it's a pallasite:
http://www.arizonaskiesmeteorites.com/AZ_Skies_Links/Esquel/371gEsquel/
A Teesside newspaper has published an article saying a lady has found the meteorite from last night, read it here http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news//2012/03/05/redcar-woman-may-have-found-teesside-meteorite-84229-30463001/?campaign=Gazettelive_email_gazette-live-email:20120305
Probably the most awesome thing I've ever seen. Far slower than the usual streak of a shooting star and with a long trail of fire, white/blue at the tip and going to orange and red before dissolving away quite an impressive number of degrees from the tip. It was visible for several seconds, streaking from north to south across the eastern sky, losing its tail and possibly breaking up as it approached the line of trees due South.
The only shame is that neither me or the friend I was with had a camera handy, and none of the footage I've seen really shows how stupendously large the tail grew. My initial thoughts were a jet engine on fire until I realised how far away and how fast it was going.
tags: 2012, endofworld, holyfuckingshitawesome
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