Bouncing Meteor, Gold Rain, Planet Patrol and More Mysterious News Briefly — October 2, 2020

Mysterious News Briefly — October 2, 2020

Recently discovered fossils show manatees frequently visited and possibly lived year-round in Texas between 11,000 and 240,000 years ago. They probably left shortly after early Texans discovered barbecue.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded a $14 million task order to a Washington DC company to design a nuclear-powered rocket for future space launches. Most of that money will most likely be spent on answering the questions “What could possibly go wrong?” and “How do we spin it?”

Hundreds of dead squirrels have been mysteriously washing ashore in Grand Haven, Michigan, annually around Labor Day for more than a century and the Department of Natural Resources has finally explained it’s due to a mass squirrel migration. Also occurring annually in Grand Haven – dogs pointing and laughing.

A meteor seen recently over Northern Germany and the Netherlands actually reached an altitude of 91 km (56 miles) – well below orbiting satellites – before skimming across the atmosphere and bouncing back into space. Or did it take a look around and change its mind?

A new study into the origins of elements in the periodic table found it was unable to determine the source of the huge amount of gold raining across the universe which exceeds what could be made by neutron star collisions, the prevailing opinion as to the cause. New advice for gold prospectors — wear your pan as a hat.

NASA unveils a citizen-science project called Planet Patrol which asks volunteers around the world to search online images from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) for evidence of undiscovered exoplanets. Move over, Fantasy Football – here comes Fantasy Astronomy.

Archaeologists in Siberia found a 5000-year-old figurine wearing a mask next to a woman who was buried face down. This belongs in an exhibit titled “We’ll never learn.”

A meteor that lit up the skies early Wednesday morning just west of the Pennsylvania and Ohio border was reported by witnesses in 15 states. Many of them were undoubtedly disappointed it was not a UFO coming to take them to a better place.

A new study of a Greenland ice core sample found that the Ilopango mega-eruption which occurred in what is now El Salvador in 431 CE was 50 times bigger than the 1980 Mount Saint Helens mega-eruption but didn’t have a major impact on the climate globally or regionally. How did it affect local political campaigns? (Asking for an undecided friend.)

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