UP: Two meteorite-like objects fall near Muzaffarnagar

Muzaffarnagar, June 29: Two hot embers fell from the sky at a Kasoli village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district last night which villagers claimed to be meteorites.

The two hot stones fell down with a loud sound after rains at the village in Charthawal police station area last night, Sub-divisional Magistrate Kumar Dharmendra said. The "stones" have been taken into "safe custody" for investigation and only experts will tell whether they are meteorites, he added. The two hot embers fell down in a compound of a villager Sukhpal.

Niraj Tyagi, Geography professor at a local college here, said the stones could be the part of a big meteroide. This is not the first case in the district, in November 2003, the scientist had confirmed the finding of a big black-coloured meteorite in Kasoli village.

The meteorite was 29cm in diameter and 11-cm thick. It had created a 15-inch deep crater when it landed in the village. In 2009 also, two meteorites were found in the Karimpur village in the district. Most of us probably have seen meteors or shooting stars.

A meteor is the flash of light that we see in the night sky when a small chunk of interplanetary debris burns up as it passes through our atmosphere.

The debris is called a meteoroid If any part of a meteoroid survives the fall through the atmosphere and lands on Earth, it is called a meteorite. Generally the meteorites are very small, their size can range from the size of a pebble to 100 kilograms or more.

PTI