Suspected meteorite hits Bloomington home

James Day, a professor of Geology at Illinois State University examines a space object that fell through the atmosphere and crashed through the window of a Bloomington home, Monday, March 5, 2007. The scientists believe the object may be a meterorite but must run more tests to be conclusive. (Pantagraph, David Proeber)

A computer desk absorbed the impact of a space object that fell through the atmosphere and crashed through the window of a Bloomington home, Monday, March 5, 2007. The scientists believe the object may be a meterorite but must run more tests to be conclusive. (Pantagraph, David Proeber)

Suspected meteorite hits Bloomington home

Excerpt:

A Bloomington couple caught a falling star Monday morning, not quite in their pockets but in a bedroom of their house.

A chunk of metal that crashed through the bedroom window of David and Dee Riddle’s home, 25 Partner Place, just after 9:30 a.m. appears to be a meteorite, but it also could be a piece of space junk, according to preliminary analysis by several Illinois State University geology professors.

However, the professors who had a look at it agree that whatever the heavy, gray object that crashed through their window is, it definitely came from space.

Robert “Skip” Nelson, a professor of geology at ISU, came out to Riddles’ home to take a look at the object, which is about the size of deck of cards.



Metal fragment that hit home not a meteorite

Excerpt:

The chunk of metal that crashed though a Bloomington couple’s home last month was not a meteorite but something man-made.

But Robert “Skip” Nelson, a professor of geology at Illinois State University, said the theory may be just as unique as he pieces together how the piece of metal made its way March 5 into David and Dee Riddle’s house at Partner Place.

Nelson said the metal object appears to have been ejected from a wood grinder from Twin City Wood Recycling. “That’s almost as amazing as it being a meteorite,” Nelson said.