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- Hacker News
- Browsing that site, The SETI Institute appears to have expanded beyond its original goal of finding extraterrestrial intelligence into astrobiology and more. Perhaps the first attempts at detecting alien radio signals hoped too much?
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...
by pcrh - No, ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE!by klez
- Detecting radio signals never made much sense to me.
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.
by Enginerrrd - > Only one was recovered because it hit a house.
You lost me there.
Is recovery possible only if a house is hit??
by chrisjj - No? It's obvious the meaning is that most meteorites will never be found because they're tiny and no one witnesses where they land. If it hits a house you know where it landed.by xingped
- From what I understand about this story, the homeowner had the presence of mind to immediately attempt to preserve the meteorite, which is what made subsequent analysis possible.
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.
by alt219 - Scene one of a Steven Spielberg movie.by andrewstuart
- If you follow disclosure, scene 1 occured a long, long time ago...by scrollop
- You'll know it's a Spielberg movie if there was a shot of clouds preceding the meteorite shot first.by dylan604
- Color Out of Space (2019) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5073642/)
Evolution (2001) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251075/)
Both fun movies, in completely different ways!
by fractallyte - its like we can explore the universe from our living room
- It's like doorstep delivery, but faster and better.by amelius
- > Researchers found preserved bits from near the surface of the original asteroid where it experienced concentrated salty fluids
Are we sure the guy who picked it up didn't just wash it with some sort of detergent after it cooled off?
by ur-whale - No, many of the the molecules are too unusual. More details:
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.
by gus_massa - How did the Alien World Chemistry get from the New Jersey Home into the Meteorite.by protocolture
- Did someone pay him for the rare meteorite? At least enough to fix the roof?
Who should one contact if this happens?
by jimnotgym - The Vogon hyperspace development council.by Razengan
- Everybody knows that. You contact NASA. Then a black helicopter will pick you up, bring you to an airbase and fly you straight to the white house, where you will be introduced to the actual truth, while a team of very excited scientists with biohazard suits praise and examine the artefact. If you're still sceptical, they will take you to a large hidden hangar in the middle of the desert and show you around.by lagrange77
- someone recently SOLD a t-rex skeleton for $50 MILLION (61% complete)
so you should be able to sell meteorites that land on your property
only thing you can't own/sell is NASA Moon Rocks
by ck2 - Here's another article that explains the guy called in an expert who told him "at least $100K crashed through your roof."
Doesn't mention if he actually sold it though, unless I missed it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/science/meteorite-new-jer...
by gexla - In the US, if a meteorite lands on your property, it's yours and you can sell or donate it as you please. This homeowner probably made a decent amount on the sale, especially with the emphasis on immediate preservation.by crooked-v
- "Our cameras in Northford, Connecticut, and Douglassville, Pennsylvania, as well as a doorbell camera in Wayne, New Jersey, captured the meteor, and from that we measured its trajectory... The path traced back to low in the asteroid belt."
I don't doubt it, but that's an astounding trajectory estimation...
by fractallyte - This is absolutely trivial as long as any fixed ground objects are visible in a camera and does not at all require some sub-pixel precision.by anovikov
- Desert Fireball Network, and less public precursor projects have been doing this for a while now:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Fireball_Network
* https://pawsey.org.au/researchers/desert-fireball-network-te...
by defrost - Source paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aea2105by xnx
- Oh, I wanted to subscribe to "Alien World Chemistry".by fuzzfactor
- The real jackpot here is how this large chunk happened to impact a home belonging to an astute and prepared individual:
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.He then immediately preserved and documented the entire scene using disposable gloves and aluminum foil to place the meteorite fragments in glass jars. - I've seen enough sci-fi to know I shouldn't just grab the dang thing ...by duxup
- With the covered surface by a prepared observer being so small and the place of impact being independent and identically distributed over all earth, we can declare such an event a one in billion one.by tsoukase