Madhubani, Bihar
Farmers working in the fields near Koriahi chowk in Lokahi block of Madhubani district in Bihar saw a strange rock fell from the sky and it has created a sense of fear and excitement in the entire area. The Rock from the sky caused a three feet wide crater in the ground and led to fumes coming out of the ground. When the locals dug the place, they found the 15 kg rock, black in colour.
The entire district is already facing the fury of flood and this Rock is considered to be an ominous sign by locals.
When it was dug out, it was found hot and fumes coming out of it. It is strongly magnetic and nothing that resembles anything that is locally found.
District administration has said that the Rock will be kept in strict security. Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar has personally taken stock of this and has said that he will get experts from ISRO(www.isro.gov.in) to investigate this.
Varnan Bureau Science Desk, adds that this stone fallen from outerspace is most likely a meteorite. Meteorites are solid debris from a comet, asteriod or meteoride which survive the intense heat when entering earth atmosphere. In contrast, Meteors, also known as falling stars or shooting stars are smaller outer space objects which disintegrate and burn due to the heat generated by friction when they enter earth’s atmosphere and appear as streak of light.
Meteorites are not as common as fallings stars. On an average only 6-7 meteorite falls are recorded around the world. The purported meteorite in Madhubani fall is special, because it is likely an iron meteorite which contain a blend of iron and nickel. These are extremely rare and constitute only 6% of the meteorites recorded around the world.
Final verdict about its nature and composition would be known only after ISRO experts conclude their tests.
In the meanwhile, this incident continues to evoke excitement and fear in local residents in the flood ravaged Madhubani.
Varnan Bureau with inputs from Varnan Science Desk – Mod Prakash and Sudeep Kumar
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