Officials in Peru State That The Fallen UFO is a ‘Chondrite Meteor’

© By Frank Warren
9-20-07

Meteor, Space Junk or Alien Craft?

     Last Saturday night at approximately 10:00 pm, villagers of Carancas , in the region of Puno, Peru stated that they witnessed a “fiery orange object” streaking across the night sky and ultimately crashing to the ground, emitting a “loud explosion” near their village.

Initial reports indicate that the villagers believed a plane had crashed (there were reports of “chunks of lead and silver around the site”); however, the item that has garnered so much media attention is the fact that those “first on the scene” became ill, and then later, villagers that “lived near-by” were also affected.

Images associated with various reports about the incident show a “water-filled crater” purportedly, 10m wide and 5m deep; soon after, reports seem to indicate it was larger.


Although the photographs show a “water-filled” crater, villagers who were first to reach the location were reported to have ”touched the glowing rock believing it had some type of monetary value,” as well as “handling luminous substances at the site.” Moreover, Peru’s health ministry stated, that in addition to dizziness, vomiting and throat irritation, “skin lesions” were also present; this initially gave rise to “radiation fears.”

Do Meteorites Make You Ill?

Consequently, the notion of radiation being present prompted Puno's Regional Health Directorate to send a group of specialists to the Carancas community and take samples of the object and or debris in the area. Jorge López Tejada, a representative for the institution said samples would be tested in Lima. Results are forthcoming. In addition, Tejada stated, an environmental cleaning crew was going to the site to take earth and water samples, and these too will be evaluated.

To date, the total of people affected by the object is over 600, and speculation of some of the causality ranges from an “alien infection” to a “U.S. spy satellite,” and seemingly more plausible, the emission of “volcanic gases,” although one might speculate that there would be some history of this in the past. According to Peru's La Republica newspaper, due to the high number of illnesses, authorities are considering placing the town of Carancas, Puno, Peru in “a state of emergency.”

In part an article from the “The New York Times” quotes another source in saying,

“Mid-sized meteorites are not hot. I’ll say it again: Mid-sized meteorites are not hot. First, meteoroids are naturally cold. They’ve been out in the frigid blackness of space for many billions of years — these rocks are cold down to their very center. Second, because of its size there’s a good chance that this meteorite was originally part of a larger meteor that broke up anywhere between 60 and 30km above the surface. If that is the case, the larger meteor’s cold interior would become the smaller meteor’s cold exterior. Since hardly any surface heating takes place lower than about 30km, this cold surface doesn’t warm up by any appreciable amount. Some meteorites, located soon after landing, have actually been reported to have frost on the surface due to their still cold interior.”

Descriptions of the object “glowing” (pertaining to heat), and “boiling water” certainly doesn’t conform to the a fore mentioned ideology.

The Latest

Peru's official government news agency reported on the 18th that the UFO was indeed a meteorite . . . a “Chondrite” meteorite to be more specific. Wikipedia defines “Chondrite as follows:

“Chondrites are stony meteorites that have not been modified due to melting or differentiation of the parent body. They formed when various types of dust and small grains that were present in the early solar system accreted to form primitive asteroids. Prominent among the components present in chondrites are the enigmatic chondrules, millimeter-sized objects that originated as freely floating, molten or partially molten droplets in space; most chondrules are rich in the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene. Chondrites also contain refractory inclusions (including Ca-Al Inclusions), which are among the oldest objects to form in the solar system, particles rich in metallic Fe-Ni and sulfides, and isolated grains of silicate minerals. The remainder of chondrites consists of fine-grained (micrometer-sized or smaller) dust, which may either be present as the matrix of the rock or may form rims or mantles around individual chondrules and refractory inclusions. Embedded in this dust are presolar grains, which predate the formation of our solar system and originated elsewhere in the galaxy.

Most meteorites that are recovered on Earth are chondrites: ~86% of witnessed falls are chondrites, as is the overwhelming majority of meteorites that are found. There are currently over 27,000 chondrites in the world's collections.”

Although, Luisa Macedo, a Volcanologist for Peru's Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET), confirmed that the meteorite was a Chondrite, she also said, that it was not radioactive and did not have any toxic gases or substances which could be harmful to peoples health; so the question remains what caused the toxic fumes, and “radioactive like symptoms?”

Interestingly, “Peru's Nuclear Energy Institute” has also been added to the investigation team as well as National University of Altiplano, National University of Altiplano and a Bolivian university.

Although “western sources” are “stumped” in regards to the “source” of the “mystery illness,” apparently the Russians have known all along, in part, Pravda reports:

Russian Military Intelligence Analysts are reporting today that one of the United States most secretive spy satellites, the KH-13, targeting Iran was 'destroyed in its orbit' with its main power generator powered by the radioactive isotope Pu-238 surviving re-entry and crashing in a remote region of the South American Nation of Peru, and where hundreds are reported to be ill from radiation poisoning.

Western media reports are stating that the US spy satellite debris hitting Peru was caused by a meteor, but which, according to these reports, would be 'impossible' as the size of 30-meter crater, if caused by a meteorite, would have hit the ground with about as much energy as 1 kiloton tactical nuclear weapon, and which would have been recorded by the seismic stations around the World.

More . . .

As one can see there are many aspects of this event that still are “unexplained,” and at present remain a mystery; however, it would appear that the “object” itself is indeed a “Chondrite meteor,” this being confirmed after scientific analysis. It’s important to point out that this incident was labeled a “meteor fall” before anyone really knew what in fact it was, all the ancillary evidence e.g., the associated illnesses, the heat, boiling water, noxious fumes etc., did and don’t support data associated with such incidents.

That said, it was certainly “premature,” and “erroneous reporting” to brand it as such, prior to some form of investigation.

UPDATE

According to a report by José Orozco in Caracas, Venezuela for National Geographic News, published on September 21, in part he writes:

The “mystery illness” associated with the “meteor fall” the result of “inhaling arsenic fumes,” according to Luisa Macedo, a researcher for Peru's Mining, Metallurgy, and Geology Institute (INGEMMET), who visited the crash site.

The meteorite created the gases when the object's hot surface met an underground water supply tainted with arsenic, the scientists said.

Numerous arsenic deposits have been found in the subsoils of southern Peru, explained Modesto Montoya, a nuclear physicist who collaborated with the team. The naturally formed deposits contaminate local drinking water.

"If the meteorite arrives incandescent and at a high temperature because of friction in the atmosphere, hitting water can create a column of steam," added José Ishitsuka, a geologist at the Peruvian Geophysics Institute, who analyzed the object.

The report also indicates that the "number of people" afflicted was approximately "30" opposed to the "hundreds" that were mentioned in the initial reports from the area.

More . . .

See Also:

UFO (Thought To Be A Meteor) Crashes To Earth in Peru, Locals Overcome By Fumes, Talk of Metallic Debris

Large, Bright UFO Filmed Over New Mexico
"It Was Frightening" Says Witness

SHARE YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE