* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Mantokoski Crater

Blobrana · L

Though the local estimates for the size of the `explosion` vary from 10 to 300 meters, a recent Finnish newspaper article thinks that it is not a meteor crater...

"A 100 metre impact crater would need the energy of 20 000 tons of TNT: half the yield of the Hiroshima bomb" - Jarmo Moilanen.

http://www.verkkouutiset.fi

Blobrana · L

The Ursa astronomical association has suggested that the explosion may have been due to a large bubble of methane rising to the surface and bursting. A phenomenon that is common in the area.
The holes left by such processes look quite similar to an impact crater.

Blobrana · L

The `crater` seems to actually be a strewn field about 300 metres wide.

Blobrana · L

-- Edited by Blobrana at 22:17, 2006-01-01

Blobrana · L

A large impact crater has been found in the Mantokoski river in Utsjoki, northern Finland, approximately one kilometre from the closest settled area.
It is estimated that the impact occurred before Christmas.
The crater has an estimated diameter of 300 meters. Samples are being sent to the University of Oulu for examination. The possibility of the crater being caused by the remnant of a satellite has not been ruled out.

"For my part I am strongly leaning towards the opinion that it is a meteorite" - Mr Juhani Harjunharja, chair of the Ursa astronomical association.