May 11
Newark, N.J. -- The mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a central New Jersey family's home earlier this year was not a meteorite after all, geologists said Friday.
While the rocklike object looks like a meteorite, scientists say it is a stainless steel alloy that does not occur in nature and is most likely "orbital debris" .
It's still a mystery where the object came from.
"That's the $64,000 question, and there's probably no way to answer it," said Rutgers University geologist. A piece of scrap iron dropped out of the sky. The question is how did it get into the sky in the first place?
The family discovered the silver object after it crashed through the roof and into the upstairs bathroom of their home.
The 46-year-old owner will now finish repairing his roof. The object, slightly bigger than a golf ball and about as heavy as a can of soup, crashed into his bathroom and dented its tile floor in January.
It's still the world's most popular metallic object that fell from the sky, he said.
Scientists had initially determined it was a meteorite. In late April, it was brought to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City so its composition could be examined by its new variable-pressure scanning electron microscope.
The testing took a few hours. The microscope shoots electrons at the surface of the sample, which causes X-rays to be generated.
From those X-rays, you can tell the composition and what elements are present in the sample.
This was the first diagnostic testing of the object, which previously been available only for visual examination. It weighs 377 grams and is about 3-inches by 2-inches.
While extraterrestrial rocks fall to the Earth with some regularity, it is rare for them to strike homes.
Federal aviation officials visited a few hours later and ruled it wasn't a piece of an airplane.
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