Woman says she was hit by meteorite in France; see expert opinion

In early July, a woman was hit by a meteorite while having coffee at home. As this is a rare situation, the rocky material was sent for detailed analysis in order to identify the origin of the rock.

The case took place in Schirmeck, in the northeast of France. According to the victim, she was on her terrace having coffee with a friend. “I heard a noise coming from the roof next to us. In the second that followed, I felt a shock in my ribs,” the victim told the Daily Mail news portal.

Luckily, she wasn't seriously injured and at first thought it was a bat or some other animal, but was surprised when she saw a different rock.

So he took the material to a roofer who dismissed the possibility and suggested the space rock hypothesis. Thus, the material was forwarded to the geologist Thierry Rebmann.

The specialist carried out some initial tests on the object, which weighs around 110g, and found elements similar to those of a meteorite, such as iron and silicon.

For the scientist: "Finding them in our temperate environments is very rare, they fuse with other elements", so the material continued to be tested and the news generated numerous disputes. Know more!

Meteorites on Earth: rare experience

The curious situation raised hypotheses of the population, because, according to the NASA, most meteorites that reach Earth fall in regions with almost no population or in the oceans.

Records indicate that tons of the space rock reach the Earth's surface, but even so, the probability of the object hitting a person in cities is very small, being estimated at one in billion.

Despite this, there are cases like that of the American Ann Hodges, who in 1954 had a severe bruise when she was hit by a 3.5 kg meteorite in Sylacauga, Alabama.

(Image: DNA/Jean-Stéphane Arnold/Reproduction)

Expert theories about the meteorite in France

After a few weeks of scientific analyzes and challenges, specialists stated that the French woman was the target of a normal rock, from the Earth's surface itself. Therefore, it was not a meteorite, reported the Daily Mail report.

For astronomer Jeremie Vaubaillon, the object has many irregular angles that are not characteristic of meteorites. A meteorite "doesn't have jagged, jagged peaks, because the rock melts as it enters the atmosphere due to the surrounding superhot plasma," she told the portal.

For geologist Barbara Gollain, from the Museum of Mineralogy in Strasbourg, the material looks more like a steel product used in construction.

Another hypothesis raised by researcher Dr. Richard Greenwood is that the stone may have fallen from the wheels of an aircraft passing through the region.

Furthermore, the fact that the object did not cause damage to the roof at the time of the fall also indicates that it is not, in fact, a meteorite.

Therefore, scientists interviewed by the Daily Mail believe that the rocky material was dropped by someone, was from a roof or even fell from an aircraft.