2009 Latvian meteorite hoax

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The 2009 Latvian meteorite hoax was a publicity stunt in which Swedish-based telecommunications company Tele2 staged an apparent meteorite landing which was later revealed to be fake.

Contents

The "Meteorite" incident

The drama began at around 17:30 local time (15:30 GMT) in Latvia on Sunday 25 October 2009. [1] Student Ancis Steinbergs reported that a fiery meteor-like object had fallen in a field outside the town of Mazsalaca near the Estonian border. [2] [3] Reports described the object lighting up the evening sky with a blazing trail [3] [4] and hitting the ground with a loud crash, [3] leaving a burning crater claimed to be around 20 m (66 ft) wide and from 3 m (9.8 ft) [5] up to 10 m (33 ft) [2] deep. Fire crews, police and military units attended the site, which was cordoned off while tests were carried out to check radiation levels. [1] The crater quickly attracted scientific and media interest amid widespread speculation about the origin of the object. [6]

Steinbergs also filmed a video in which he and his two companions (his girlfriend and another student) approach the smoking crater and talk to each other excitedly when they apparently discover a burning mass at the bottom of the crater. The deliberately amateur style of the video, with shaky handheld camerawork and apparently spontaneous reactions from the students, has been compared to The Blair Witch Project . [2] The video was published on YouTube and news websites, [6] [7] attracting worldwide interest. Landowner Larisa Gerasimova reportedly charged visitors the equivalent of $2 each to view the crater. [2]

Investigation

The first scientist to visit the site, Uldis Nulle of the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre, said his initial impression was that a meteor impact could have caused the crater. [1] [8] However, when he later examined the site in daylight he concluded it had been faked. [1] Other scientists who inspected the crater confirmed that it was a hoax. Andris Karpovics, a doctoral student of geology at the University of Latvia, described the crater as "a simple, man-made hole with a substance poured in". [9] He told journalists that the hole appeared to have been dug with shovels, and noted that thermite (a mixture of aluminium and iron, possibly with sulfur added), probably caused the increased temperatures observed in the crater. [9] The crater was considerably smaller than initially reported: its actual diameter was around 9–10 m (30–33 ft) and it was about 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) deep. [1] [2] [9] Dr Ilgonis Vilks, chairman of the scientific council at the University of Latvia's Institute of Astronomy, declared "it’s a fake. It’s very disappointing, I was full of hope coming here, but I am certain it is not a meteorite". [2] Dr Vilks pointed out that there was green grass inside the artificial crater, with only a small area at the bottom burnt, and no ejected material or meteorite fragments were found on surrounding land. He described the supposed meteorite as "a ball of clay that was burning", and said that samples had been taken for university geologists to examine. He noted "There was a small blast heard by local people but this was not strong enough to create the crater". [2] Nature conservationist Dainis Ozols also examined the scene and said he believed that someone had burned a pyrotechnic compound at the bottom of a man-made hole to create the illusion of a meteorite crater. [2] Police warned of a possible criminal investigation into the hoax. [10]

Caroline Smith, meteorite curator at the Natural History Museum in London, stated that the pictures and video footage of the burning crater indicated that it was not a meteorite crater: meteorites are not aflame when they strike Earth. [1] Smith also pointed out that there were no other reported sightings of any fireball in the sky, [1] which would have been very clearly visible had the "meteorite" been real. [11] It is believed that a meteorite would have to be around a metre or more in diameter to result in a crater of that size. [1] Sizeable meteorites are rare, since most objects which enter the Earth's atmosphere burn up before reaching the planet's surface. The most recent large meteorite known to have landed on Earth struck near Carancas in Peru in 2007, leaving a crater around 15 m (49 ft) wide. [1]

Tele2's admission and aftermath

On Tuesday 27 October 2009, Swedish-based telecommunications company Tele2 admitted to perpetrating the hoax as a publicity stunt, and promised to reimburse the Latvian government for expenses incurred in responding to the incident. [3] [12] Spokesperson Vita Sirica representing the Latvian branch of Tele2 said the stunt, which was organised in collaboration with media agency Inspired, [13] was intended "to draw attention away from Latvia's economic crisis and toward something else more interesting." [12] She explained that 9 people had dug the hole and burned chemicals at the bottom to create the elaborate hoax. [12] The meteorite hoax occurred the day before the recession-hit Latvian government approved an austerity budget for 2010, [10] and some officials were not impressed by the stunt. Interior Minister Linda Murniece accused Tele2 of a "cynical mockery", and announced that the Government would cancel its contract with Tele2, stating "The Interior Ministry doesn't want to do business with a firm that promotes itself at our expense". [12] [14]

Pernilla Oldmark, spokesperson for Tele2 in Stockholm, said the hoax had been carried out by the Latvian branch of Tele2 though authorised by its head office. [12] She apologised for disruption and said the stunt had been intended to launch a forthcoming marketing campaign, claiming "The message will become clear as soon as the concept is launched". [14] Latvian Advertising Association President Girts Ozols said that the situation was unprecedented but the hoax could be considered an ethics violation in professional advertising. [13] Ozols expressed concern that the incident had caused the community to feel insecure, and commented "If such a prank is pulled, the culprits should not have allowed it to drag on for so long without revealing the truth." [13] The Latvian Advertising Association's board is to review the matter. [13] [ needs update ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteorite</span> Solid debris from outer space that hits a planetary surface

A meteorite is a rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical interactions with the atmospheric gases cause it to heat up and radiate energy. It then becomes a meteor and forms a fireball, also known as a shooting star; astronomers call the brightest examples "bolides". Once it settles on the larger body's surface, the meteor becomes a meteorite. Meteorites vary greatly in size. For geologists, a bolide is a meteorite large enough to create an impact crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunguska event</span> 1908 meteor air burst explosion in Siberia

The Tunguska event was a large explosion of between 3 and 50 megatons that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Yeniseysk Governorate, Russia, on the morning of 30 June 1908. The explosion over the sparsely populated East Siberian taiga flattened an estimated 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) of forest, and eyewitness accounts suggest up to three people may have died. The explosion is generally attributed to a meteor air burst, the atmospheric explosion of a stony asteroid about 50–60 metres wide. The asteroid approached from the east-south-east, probably with a relatively high speed of about 27 km/s (60,000 mph). Though the incident is classified as an impact event, the object is thought to have exploded at an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometres rather than hitting the Earth's surface, leaving no impact crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteor Crater</span> Meteorite impact crater in northern Arizona

Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is an impact crater about 37 mi (60 km) east of Flagstaff and 18 mi (29 km) west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are officially called the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, after the adjacent Canyon Diablo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteoroid</span> Sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System

A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Many are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact event</span> Collision of two astronomical objects

An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effect. When large objects impact terrestrial planets such as the Earth, there can be significant physical and biospheric consequences, as the impacting body is usually traveling at several kilometres a second, though atmospheres mitigate many surface impacts through atmospheric entry. Impact craters and structures are dominant landforms on many of the Solar System's solid objects and present the strongest empirical evidence for their frequency and scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moon landing conspiracy theories</span> Claims that the Apollo Moon landings were faked

Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA, possibly with the aid of other organizations. The most notable claim of these conspiracy theories is that the six crewed landings (1969–1972) were faked and that twelve Apollo astronauts did not actually land on the Moon. Various groups and individuals have made claims since the mid-1970s that NASA and others knowingly misled the public into believing the landings happened, by manufacturing, tampering with, or destroying evidence including photos, telemetry tapes, radio and TV transmissions, and Moon rock samples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kecksburg UFO incident</span> 1965 fireball sighting in areas surrounding Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, United States

The Kecksburg UFO incident occurred on December 9, 1965, at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, United States, when a fireball was reported by citizens of six U.S. states and Canada over Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. Astronomers said it was likely to have been a meteor bolide burning up in the atmosphere and descending at a steep angle. NASA released a statement in 2005 reporting that experts had examined fragments from the area and determined they were from a Soviet satellite, but that records of their findings were lost in 1987. NASA responded to court orders and Freedom of Information Act requests to search for the records. The incident gained wide notoriety in popular culture and ufology, with speculation ranging from extraterrestrial craft to debris from the Soviet space probe Kosmos 96, and is often called "Pennsylvania's Roswell".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sikhote-Alin meteorite</span> 1947 meteorite impact in southeastern Russia

In southeastern Russia, an iron meteorite fell on the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in 1947. Large iron meteorite falls have been witnessed, and fragments have been recovered, but never before in recorded history has a fall of this magnitude occurred. An estimated 23 tonnes of fragments survived the fiery passage through the atmosphere and reached the Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tele2</span> Multinational telecommunications company

Tele2 AB is a provider of mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services, TV, streaming and global Internet of things services, amongst others, to consumers and enterprises. It is headquartered in Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major mobile network operator in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The company initially founded Tele2 Russia, but later sold all its operations, only leasing the use of its brand name.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mazsalaca</span> Town in Latvia

Mazsalaca is a town in Valmiera Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It has 1269 inhabitants.

The Carancas impact event refers to the fall of the Carancas chondritic meteorite on September 15, 2007, near the village of Carancas in Peru, close to the Bolivian border and Lake Titicaca. The impact created a small crater in the clay soil and scorched earth around its location. A local official, Marco Limache, said that "boiling water started coming out of the crater, and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby", as "fetid, noxious" gases spewed from the crater. Surface impact occurred above 3,800 metres (12,500 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buzzard Coulee meteorite</span> November 20, 2008 Canadian meteorites

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteor air burst</span> Atmospheric explosion of a meteor

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odessa Meteor Crater</span> Impact crater in west Texas

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The Tunnunik impact structure, formerly known as the Prince Albert Impact Crater, is a recently confirmed meteorite impact structure. It is located on Prince Albert Peninsula in the northwestern part of Victoria Island[A] in Canada's Northwest Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelyabinsk meteor</span> Near-Earth asteroid that fell over Russia in 2013

The Chelyabinsk meteor was a superbolide that entered Earth's atmosphere over the southern Ural region in Russia on 15 February 2013 at about 09:20 YEKT. It was caused by an approximately 18 m (59 ft) diameter, 9,100-tonne (10,000-short-ton) near-Earth asteroid that entered the atmosphere at a shallow 18.3 ± 0.4 degree angle with a speed relative to Earth of 19.16 ± 0.15 kilometres per second. The light from the meteor was briefly brighter than the Sun, visible as far as 100 km (60 mi) away. It was observed in a wide area of the region and in neighbouring republics. Some eyewitnesses also reported feeling intense heat from the fireball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chelyabinsk meteorite</span> Remains of the Chelyabinsk meteor

The Chelyabinsk meteorite is the fragmented remains of the large Chelyabinsk meteor of 15 February 2013 which reached the ground after the meteor's passage through the atmosphere. The descent of the meteor, visible as a brilliant superbolide in the morning sky, caused a series of shock waves that shattered windows, damaged approximately 7,200 buildings and left 1,491 people injured. The resulting fragments were scattered over a wide area.

The Managua event was an explosion that was widely reported as a possible meteorite fall on 6 September 2014 in Managua, Nicaragua, near the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport runway. Its actual cause remains undetermined.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Doubts over Latvia "meteor crash"". BBC News . 26 October 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Halpin, Tony (26 October 2009). "'Meteorite' that landed in Latvia is a hoax, experts say". The Times . London. Retrieved 2 November 2009.[ dead link ]
  3. 1 2 3 4 Landes, David (27 October 2009). "Swedish telecoms firm admits to Latvia meteorite hoax". The Local. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  4. ↑ "Earlier related report". Space Daily . 26 October 2009. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  5. ↑ Young, Linda (26 October 2009). "Meteor-Like Object Crashes into Latvian Field Carving Out Large Crater". Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  6. 1 2 Cohen, Michael (26 October 2009). "UFO crashes into Latvia creating massive crater and media frenzy, video". All News Web. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  7. ↑ Rowley, Emma (27 October 2009). "Splatvia! 'Meteor Crater' Was Really A Hoax". Sky News Online. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  8. ↑ "Latvian crater: meteorite or hoax?". Discovery Channel News. Associated Press. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  9. 1 2 3 "Experts doubt meteor led to Latvian crater". CNN . 26 October 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  10. 1 2 "Phone company sorry for Latvia meteorite hoax". news.com.au . 27 October 2009. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  11. ↑ Plait, Phil (26 October 2009). "Latvian meteor impact: fake". Bad astronomy blog. Discover. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mobile Phone Firm Behind Latvia Meteorite Hoax". The New York Times . Associated Press. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2009.[ dead link ]
  13. 1 2 3 4 Kolyako, Nina (28 October 2009). "Association president: action with meteorite hoax could be considered an ethics violation in advertising". The Baltic Course. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  14. 1 2 Ward, Andrew (28 October 2009). "Tele2 in a hole over 'meteor' publicity stunt". The Financial Times . CNN. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
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