“The visual observations, as well as the analyses, make it possible to affirm that the rock analyzed is not a fragment of meteorite,” indicated in a press release the School and Observatory of Earth Sciences (EOST), which carried out these studies. On November 20, the firefighters were called to intervene on a “smoke release from a car” parked in a peripheral district of the Alsatian city.
“Following the recognition of the first team, we suspect the fall of a stellar body,” wrote the Sdis du Bas-Rhin in an intervention report. But once transmitted to the laboratory, the researchers noted from the first observation using a binocular magnifying glass that “the rock, with an average size of 1.5 centimeters, does not present any of the characteristics of meteorites”, indicates the EOST.
An earth rock
Other studies will show that the rock analyzed is a sandstone, i.e. an terrestrial rock “composed of multiple crystals of various natures (quartz, orthoclase, albite, pyrite), all partially covered with crystallized filaments of hydrocarbons (bitumen or diesel) “, indicated the researchers in their press release.
EOST also analyzed seismological data from permanent stations in the region. “No clear signal that could be linked to meteorite entry into the atmosphere” was observed. The probability of a meteorite hitting a car is “very low”, the researchers point out in their press release. “Only one proven case has occurred since the invention of the automobile, in 1992 in Peeksill, United States.”