
Mystery object falls from sky, area sealed off by military - cdvonstinkpot
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/02/mystery_object_falls_from_sky_area_sealed_off_by_military_weather_balloon_say_officials/
======
WestCoastJustin
Spoiler alert: _Was a balloon, and it was sealed off by the bomb squad to see
what is was (they happened to be from a near by military base)_.

Events like these will likely continue to rise as the barrier to get to near
space lowers. There have been several stories in recent years about students
who have used these High-altitude balloons [1, 2] and there are even sites
which teach you [3].

UPDATED: bomb squad from bomb squid ;)

[1] [http://www.space.com/14397-teens-lego-man-space-
stratosphere...](http://www.space.com/14397-teens-lego-man-space-
stratosphere.html)

[2] [http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-
camera-...](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-
students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget/)

[3] [http://android.hibal.org/](http://android.hibal.org/)

~~~
tessierashpool
_bomb squid_ : best typo I've seen in a long time. the story provokes the
imagination as-is, but gets a lot better with the addition of a bomb squid.

------
thejosh
They say it is a weatherballoon, but how do we know it was made on this
planet?

It could be a weather balloon from another planet containing aliens.

------
rangibaby
This at the end of the article made me chuckle

> The truth is out there here and here. ®

Linking to [http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Package-discovered-
neighborho...](http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Package-discovered-neighborhood-
turns-out-to-be-weather-balloon-217677901.html) and
[http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/norfolk/suspicious-p...](http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/norfolk/suspicious-
package-investigation-underway)

------
tehwalrus
As soon as I saw the picture of it on their linked sites (see rangibaby's
comment) I was like "that looks like every homemade space camera I've seen on
youtube."

May have been a "weather monitoring device" rather than a homemade space
camera, same difference. Definitely human-made (polystyrene, circuit boards,
string.)

------
Sanddancer
While I love me a good conspiracy theory, in this case, sometimes a weather
balloon is just a weather balloon.

~~~
INTPenis
We don't actually know that though, considering how quickly government forces
swept it away. The information came from the government.

I'm not trying to say anything, I'm not a believer and I really don't care
about this stuff.

All I want to point out is that there is no way for anyone here on HN to know
what it was for sure. There is only trust in the media, who trust in a press
release, from the government.

~~~
nspragmatic
> We don't actually know that though, considering how quickly government
> forces swept it away.

> All I want to point out is that there is no way for anyone here on HN to
> know what it was for sure

Take another look at the last sentence. :P

~~~
INTPenis
I'm afraid I don't follow. Perhaps my english is not the best.

------
anigbrowl
[http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Package-discovered-
neighborho...](http://www.wvec.com/news/local/Package-discovered-neighborhood-
turns-out-to-be-weather-balloon-217677901.html)

------
kbar13
is the register a legitimate news source? The copy makes me feel like I'm
reading a conspiracy theory rag.

EDIT: It also doesn't help that their site is utter trash.

~~~
vidarh
They're "legitimate" in that they don't tend to outright lie or write stuff
they should know is wrong, but their overall style and tone is always halfway
between serious newspaper and The Onion. E.g. they for years ended
"everything" in all articles about Yahoo! with exclamation marks to mock
Yahoo's use of exclamation marks in their name. Unless you appreciate British
humour in general and sarcasm in particular, you might find them.. odd.

------
mikecane
Weather balloons, bomb squad. Reminded me of World War II:

Japanese Balloon Bomb attack on the US
[http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/balloon.html](http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/balloon.html)

Also MeFi: [http://www.metafilter.com/60948/WWII-Japanese-Balloon-
Bombs](http://www.metafilter.com/60948/WWII-Japanese-Balloon-Bombs)

------
guard-of-terra
How strange should the item be in order me to call for "authorities"?

~~~
ekianjo
If something non-human comes out of it, that may be a good reason to call :)

------
funnyland
Maybe this explains it...

[http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/happy-fun-
ball/...](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/happy-fun-ball/n10032/)

------
mtgx
Is it Thor's hammer?

I guess it could be some spy satellite or drone they had.

~~~
axefrog
While the nerd in me wants it to be a crashed alien probe, the most plausible
scenario is that it's a crashed military satellite, drone or similar.

~~~
AmVess
It's best not to check out a meteorite that hit the ground near here, Han, old
buddy.

Always let the professionals take care of things.

------
Andrenid
I always just assume these things are pieces of space junk that lost orbit. Is
that even viable? Or is the junk all small enough to completely burn up on re-
entry?

~~~
brazzy
Almost all of it is small enough. And orbiting junk is monitored really
closely (so we can time rocket launches to avoid it), so when anything large
enough to reach the ground comes down (most prominently Mir:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deorbit_of_Mir](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deorbit_of_Mir)),
people know in advance.

Hey, there's even a schedule: [http://www.aerospace.org/cords/reentry-
predictions/upcoming-...](http://www.aerospace.org/cords/reentry-
predictions/upcoming-reentries/)

------
taproot
I haven't read anything more than the title or any comments and I trust the
reputable sources at the register completely.

So i gotta say: Yup, aliens.

