A suspected meteorite falls in a rice field in India

A football-sized object came from the sky and crashed into a rice field in the Bihar state of India. The farmers, working in the field, got frightened when a suspected meteorite landed in paddy with a thud. Farmers also saw the clouds of smoke going up after the object fell in the field.

The magistrate of Madhubani district of Bihar, Kapil Ashok, said, “It is reported that the workers saw a fireball-like object coming down from the sky”. The residents of the village dug up the hole, 5-feet deep, and took the object out. The weight of the object was 15 kg and it was light brown with shiny skin. The object also had strong magnetic properties, according to the authorities.

Ashok said, “The object looked like a stone but the glitter of the stone was more than that of an unpolished stone”. The experts will study the object in the Shrikrishna science center of Patna. Initially, the stone will be kept in the Bihar Museum. The meteors burn up when they pass through the atmosphere of the earth. Meteorites tell about the history of the solar system.

Authorities said, “A meteorite killed a bus driver in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India in 2016. Three people were injured as well in the incident.” NASA disputed that incident but Indian scientists supported the claim of regional authorities. Another incident took place in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk which injured 1100 people.

The object fell in a paddy in the Madhubani district of Bihar state on Monday. The farmers were working in the rice field when the object crashed into the field. They got scared as they saw the smoke after that. It is not the first time when a meteorite hit the ground. The object has strong metallic properties, according to the authorities.