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Re: (meteorobs) The Vitim event, the airplane crash and more
> So I propose to wait some days-weeks for developments of the interesting
> story. I will try to post any news on the event.
Looking forward to new details, but frankly, I have my serious doubts about
this whole story. I think this is just a prolonged news hype of the kind
"Loch Ness monster seen again / another new sighting of Elvis!".
While the Kosmopoisk reporting language is very suggestive, I feel that the
pictures do not entirely match with their descriptions. The Taiga damage on
the pictures seem to be quite localized patches with no indications either
in the pictures, or in the reports, why this could not be a 'normal' forest
fire (which is why I pointed to that more down to earth possible source of
forest fire that was reported for the area: that apparently burning Antonov
aircraft crash-landing in the area. And if this can be ruled out as a
source: forests burn for many reasons, natural or man-induced. For example
because of a careless gold digger. A meteoric event as a cause for a forest
fire is not immediately the most likely). The DOD satellite registration
points to a 2 kT event, which is too small to cause the claimed kind of
damage. And I find those reported strange phenomena like "bitter taste of
water", "increase in background radioactivity", "elevated tritium levels" a
bit too much of the bizarre, they raise my alarm bells with regard to all
this 'evidence'. They are not things you expect associated with a genuine
impact/airburst event. They only strengthen the apparently weird and suspect
character of the findings on the ground. I think it is most likely that the
things now found on the ground have nothing to do with the observed bolide.
That is my opinion, and I'll only change it after some clear evidence is
presented upon which established impact scientists agree.
By the way Andrei, to avoid misunderstanding, I highly appreciate your news
reporting coverage of the event so far, and your rightfull cautious attitude
to the reports, so my comment above is not directed to you, but to the issue
in question itself. Let there be no mistake in that! Your call to examine
satellite pictures from before and after the Vitim event, is a very good and
wise suggestion I think.
That's my 2 cents worth of it, and as this subject is slightly OT of the
Meteorobs goals and the Perseid season is nearing, I'll leave it to that
untill fresh evidence emerges I think.
- Marco
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