Alien World Chemistry Found Inside Meteorite That Struck New Jersey Home
Posted by spzx 1 day ago
Comments
Comment by xnx 1 day ago
Comment by fuzzfactor 1 day ago
Comment by ButlerianJihad 1 day ago
He then immediately preserved and documented the entire scene using disposable gloves and aluminum foil to place the meteorite fragments in glass jars.
I can think of many diverse reactions to a meteor strike, but even NASA is singing the praises of this guy and his quick thinking.Comment by lelanthran 1 day ago
Maybe chunks hit many people, but you only hear about the ones who are prepped and ready.
Comment by ozim 1 day ago
„Your bug out backpack is not enough, you need space bug out backpack”.
Comment by ASalazarMX 18 hours ago
If this had happened to me, I would probably use Ziplock bags in the best scenario.
Comment by lt_kernelpanic 3 hours ago
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Comment by jimnotgym 1 day ago
Who should one contact if this happens?
Comment by gexla 5 hours ago
Doesn't mention if he actually sold it though, unless I missed it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/science/meteorite-new-jer...
Comment by crooked-v 1 day ago
Comment by herodoturtle 1 day ago
Does this happen often in the US?
I mean often enough that folks happen to know the legality of it?
In which case I find it extremely frightening that one could be sitting on their porch, minding their own business, browsing HN, and then get unexpectedly head-shotted by a meteorite.
Comment by pavel_lishin 23 hours ago
Not sure if we should count Tunguska, which killed at least three people.
Comment by jlarocco 1 day ago
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Comment by recursivecaveat 13 hours ago
Comment by herodoturtle 1 day ago
Comment by ck2 1 day ago
so you should be able to sell meteorites that land on your property
only thing you can't own/sell is NASA Moon Rocks
Comment by qup 1 day ago
"National dairy. All other use prohibited!"
Comment by cucumber3732842 10 hours ago
Comment by fuzzfactor 1 day ago
If you ever watched Hardcore Pawn it looks like they would buy just about anything for the right price :)
Comment by hammock 1 day ago
Comment by lagrange77 1 day ago
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Comment by sph 1 day ago
You contact NASA because you found a meteorite with clear signs of alien life, a black helicopter will pick you up, you get put in a dark cell, interrogated, and then told to forget all about it or G-Men will disappear your family. You try to sell the news to mass media, but rumours start to spread about you. Your life work get discredited, you lose your job and family, end up wandering the streets in an alcohol daze muttering about aliens.
I guess it depends if you've drank the kool aid about the US government being the good guys, or not.
Comment by spiderfarmer 1 day ago
You have to suspend your disbelief harder at the 8 o’clock news nowadays.
Comment by lagrange77 1 day ago
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Comment by fractallyte 1 day ago
I don't doubt it, but that's an astounding trajectory estimation...
Comment by defrost 1 day ago
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Fireball_Network
* https://pawsey.org.au/researchers/desert-fireball-network-te...
Comment by imoverclocked 1 day ago
> The dark flight trajectory of a meteoroid is significantly affected by the atmospheric winds, especially by the jet stream. As a result, the meteorite fall position can be shifted by up to several kilometers compared to a scenario with no winds.
That network is mostly interested in where it falls, not where it came from. A few degrees for finding an origin is a huge variation.
Comment by defrost 1 day ago
The less public precursors were and still have an interest in both projected targets and sources.
Comment by anovikov 1 day ago
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Comment by lazide 1 day ago
Still better than nothing, though!
Comment by anovikov 1 day ago
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Comment by fractallyte 1 day ago
Evolution (2001) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251075/)
Both fun movies, in completely different ways!
Comment by scrollop 1 day ago
Comment by ur-whale 1 day ago
Are we sure the guy who picked it up didn't just wash it with some sort of detergent after it cooled off?
Comment by gus_massa 1 day ago
The amino acids have a central C (Carbon) that is connected to 4 parts, a COOH (acid), a NH2 (amino) and H (Hydrogen) and a R (rest, that is a polite way to say whatever). [I'm ignoring some less usual cases.]
The 4 parts can be arengad in two ways, "L" and "D" that are mirrors of each other. Living things (and corpses) almost have only the "L" version. But in the meteorite they found a 50% and 50% mix of L and D that is a clear thing that they were made by chemical reactions instead of living thing.
Also, in living things (and corpses) the possible/usual R are like 30. The meteorite has a few of the usual ones, and also a few unusual ones that is another clear thing that they were made by chemical reactions instead of living thing.
Also, the R they found can be explained by the expected chemical reactions on a meteorite. I don't understand the details, but IIUC there is HCN (Cyanide) and in some conditions it likes to react with itself and make the stuff they found.
So unless the guy is a mad scientist making weird experiments in his attic that are not very useful to rule the word, it's probably a mix made in the meteorite by chemical reactions.
Comment by AndrewOMartin 1 day ago
Comment by chrisjj 1 day ago
You lost me there.
Is recovery possible only if a house is hit??
Comment by alt219 1 day ago
Presumably other fragments landing outdoors with no one around taking similar steps to preserve them, even if they were to be recovered, would not be as valuable for study because of their exposure to the natural environment of Earth.
Comment by xingped 1 day ago
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Comment by pcrh 1 day ago
I have little doubt that, given the infinite size of the universe, that extraterrestrial intelligence (of some sort) exists, the question is whether we will ever detect it... It perhaps even exists as close to us as Europa, should we attempt a landing there...
Comment by Enginerrrd 1 day ago
Even a few light years away, it’s almost infeasible to build a radio transmitter that could be detected above the noise floor. The amount of energy you’d need would be absurdly wasteful.
Comment by msdz 1 day ago
If you’re an alien civilization with several dyson spheres, surely at some point you’d have sufficient energy/resources even for such a “hopeless” science-y project, right?
Comment by klez 1 day ago
Comment by lysace 1 day ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Clipper
The landing plan was scrapped last year. :/