A meteorite that actually made it to ground leaving a huge impact crater near a peruvian village is causing a mystery illness. A boiling substance was reported oozing out of the rock. This scared the crap out of me cause this could be the first case of some kind of illness caused by space microbes or virus. To me, the media, NASA, and the CDC hasnt really reacted to this or given any updates to the conditions in the village.
I figured the idea of a alien microbe or viral bug with no terrestrial cure, could spread by any kind of contact, in this case by air if it is affecting a whole village, would be on peoples mind more than any ofther news story.
2007-09-21 06:46:43 · 15 answers · asked by greg_lang2006 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
You worry too much.
After 4.5 billion years of meteoric bombardment and the killer comes today in an impact that leaves acrater smaller than the foundation of an apartment house?
Yawn.
2007-09-21 08:46:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you read the news reports closely, you will see that there is a good deal of controversy aver the nature of the exact cause of the crater. Some people say it was the explosion of natural gas from an underground pool that formed the crater, and not the impact crater of a meteorite.
Natural gas (as in methane) has a rotten egg smell which will make many people sick. There is little to suggest that a meteorite's impact would cause sickness. If it were a meteorite strike, all that should be there is a molten rock deep in the center of the crater, no gases at all. All gases associated with the meteor would have burned off on entry to the Earth's atmosphere long before it ever struck Earth.
Photos of the strike crater show the hole completely filled with water which is highly unlikely if the hole was created by some object which was at about 20,000 degrees F when it struck the Earth. All water in the meteorite's crater would have been vaporized by the extremely hot, rocky meteorite .
2007-09-21 07:59:25 · answer #2 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I wouldn't worry too much about viruses from outer space. You say that there's no cure for such bugs...well, there doesn't really have to be because it is extremely unlikely that a microbe which evolved in another place could EVER infect a human being. Most pathogens are specific to a single species, or to a small group of species. It would be the ultimate in bad luck IF a microbe evolved on another planet or on an asteroid (How? I don't know...) and IF that rock just happened to hit the Earth and IF those microbes survived the shock and heat of atmospheric entry and IF those microbes survived the impact and IF they could actually infect humans and IF they succeeded in doing so.
No, like another person said, I find it much more likely that (A) the "mystery illness" was entirely of terrestrial origin and was already well-established by the time the meteor fell, or (B) Some chemical released by the impact (remember, the Andes are volcanic) is having an adverse effect on the populace. No need to break out your biohazard suit just yet.
2007-09-21 07:02:10 · answer #3 · answered by Lucas C 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Since its obviously isn´t spreading the cause is most likely a chemical release either from the meteor or from something the meteor hit. It is also quite possible that the "meteor" is actually some poisonus man made space junk that has fallen out of orbit. People were warned not to go near the Columbia wreckage because there are so many poisonus substances in spacecraft. Don´t worry about this peruvian "alien invasion" killing anyone. Worry about the spread of HIV and the avian flue instead.
2007-09-21 07:18:27 · answer #4 · answered by DrAnders_pHd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There has been an update posted on Yahoo News....
It seems they are in the process of ruling out several causes and believe the sickness to actually be a reaction to the toxic gases formed on impact.
2007-09-21 07:04:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
CDC looked into it, didn't issue an alert for America.
Also, it's been almost a week since this story aired. Has anyone died? How far has the sickness spread? Believe me, if it was bad, the blogopshere would know.
2007-09-21 06:58:05 · answer #6 · answered by Ken B 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm not worried, it's probably nothing. But tell that to the people over in Religion and Spirituality about it. Every day over there, someone claims it's the meteor in Revelation and Jesus is about to return, or something else along those lines.
2007-09-21 07:47:31 · answer #7 · answered by The Doctor 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Meteorites hit the earth every day. Why panic.
The illness was probably from methane gas which is prevalent in meteors
2007-09-21 07:46:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its probably all crap....my aunt is in peru right now and she has been there for 3 weeks and she is fine...there was probably an illness before this thing hit and they are now blaming it on a rock!
What else is new, the world has everything so dramatized!
2007-09-21 06:55:17 · answer #9 · answered by Samantha D 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because all evidence points to it not being a meteor, more of a sinkhole. There's thermal vents like that in Yellowstone - noxious fumes, boiling water, etc. Whatever's coming out is coming from the ground, not from space.
2007-09-21 07:02:11 · answer #10 · answered by eri 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋