A 14-year-old German lad survived a close encounter with a meteorite when a pea-sized piece of rock travelling at 30,000 mph left him with nothing more than a "nasty" three-inch gash on his hand.
According to the Telegraph, Gerrit Blank was on his way to school in Essen when a bright light in the sky heralded the arrival of the red-hot space rock. It bounced off his hand before embedding itself in a foot-wide crater in the ground.
Blank recounted: "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 into the road."
Subsequent tests on the teen-bashing space pea proved its provenance. Ansgar Kortem, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, confirmed: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists.
My concern is that this lad doesn't develop any superhuman powers from his brush with this extra-terrestrial rock fragment.
The kid doesn't appear to wear glasses, so if he starts wearing them in a couple of years it will be a sure sign.
3 comments:
That’s crazy. How did it bury itself so deep into the ground and not severely hurt the boy’s hand?
I'm guessing that it must have been travelling at exactly the right angle to transmit enough force to his body to knock him to the ground, whilst only causing a superficial wound rather than penetrative damage.
Actually, that's my way of saying 'I don't really have a bloody clue because it's been over ten years since I studied physics and astronomy, but I might as well at least try to sound clever'!
Aren't we missing the real issue here, though? I mean, sod the horse chestnut trees - for the sake of elf 'n safety, we need to house everyone in concrete bunkers for their own protection.
It's for the CHIILDRRREEEN!!!
Quite right Rob I don't want to cause a panic but I feel all children should now be issued with head protection gear and given lessons on how to avoid meteorites in a multicultural, gay, Euro friendly setting.
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