Boy Hit by Meteorite from Space

güttsfükk · #1 ● 06-26-2009, 07:24 PM

A 14-year-old boy from Germany has survived being hit by a meteorite from space travelling at 30,000mph.

Gerrit Blank was walking to his school in Germany when the rock flew past, grazing his hand and leaving a smoking crater in the ground.
Gerrit was left with just a small scar. Scientists are now studying the object which is the size of a pea.
Hundreds of meteorites land on Earth every year but it's INCREDIBLY rare for anyone to be hit by one.

Most rocks heading towards the Earth burn up in the atmosphere.

The one that hit Gerrit would have been a lot larger, but it would have crumbled into pieces before hitting the ground.

Only one other person has survived a meteor strike. In 1954, a rock the size of a grapefruit crashed through the roof of a house in America.
It bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.

CBBC Newsround | World | Boy hit by meteorite from space

güttsfükk · #2 ● 06-26-2009, 07:26 PM

Boy Hit By Meteorite Travelling At 30,000mph

A teenager was hit by a meteorite travelling at 30,000mph - and lived to tell the tale.

Gerrit Blank was on his way to school when he saw a massive fireball heading straight towards him from the sky.

The white-hot meteorite bounced off the schoolboy's hand and hit the ground so hard it left a foot-long crater in the tarmac - as well as a three-inch scar on his hand.

Gerrit, 14, said: "At first I just saw a large ball of light and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.

"Then, a split second after that, there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."

"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.

"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself in the road."

Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite, which crashed to Earth in Essen in Germany.

Chemical tests on the rock have now proved it is from outer space.

Ansgar Korte, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists."

Chances of being struck by a meteorite are around one in 100 million.

Mr Korte said: "Most meteorites don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere.

"Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water."

There is only one other known case of a human being surviving a direct hit from a meteor.

A grapefruit-sized meteor crashed through the roof of a house in Alabama, in the USA, in 1954.

After smashing through the top of the building, it bounced off furniture and then hit a woman who was asleep at the time.

Boy Hit By Meteorite Travelling At 30,000mph - Yahoo! News UK