La « météorite » du 2 janvier, dans le New Jersey, n'en était pas une

Publié le May 12, 2007

An object that fell through the roof of a New Jersey home in January was not a meteorite, according to Jeremy Delaney a geologist at Rutgers University. Instead, it appears the object was space junk, or orbital debris.

"Basically, it's a piece of stainless steel. There's huge amounts of material that have been left by the various space programs of the world," said Delaney.

The meteorite shaped object was not from a naturally occurring substance and had a silver like reflection. It weighed about the same as a small can of soup, 13 ounces (about .37 kilograms), but was no bigger than a golf ball.

Earlier during the incident, scientists from Rutgers examined the object visually along with police who were at the scene, and determined it was a meteorite. But further tests by geologists confirmed that it was not a meteorite, but probably a metal piece from a rocket or satellite. They had earlier thought it was made of iron.

That's the nature of science. If the conclusion from the test says it's not a meteorite, then it's not a meteorite. We have to move forward," said Srinivasan Nageswaran, an individual belonging to the family that found the object.

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