 URL close encounter of burnt kind it came from outer space or did it teenager siobhan cowton is convinced the object which struck her as she climbed into the family car at her home in northallerton is extra terrestrial but while her claims are being treated with a certain amount of studied academic scepticism by experts in these matters the NUMBER year old schoolgirl is adamant she was hit on the foot by a meteorite siobhan initially thought there was a more prosaic explanation that the odd looking stone had been thrown at her by a child but on closer inspection she discovered all was not as it seemed because it was hot when she picked it up it hit her on a foot but caused no injury i looked at it again and it had a black and grey colour with a shiny bubble surface she said after closer inspection by her father niel and comparison with pictures on the internet siobhan plans to ask scientists at durham university to check the object for authenticity if it is from outer space siobhan says she will consider putting it up for auction she added if it isn t worth anything then i suppose i will keep it myself for sentimental value it is not every day that you are hit by a meteorite but dr ben horton a lecturer in physical geography was the acme of academic caution meteors have features that can be used to establish whether it is a piece of extraterrestrial rock he said they have a very smooth surface but sometimes they have shallow depressions and cavities if they are hot they should have a black ash like crust burnt around the edge most are between five and NUMBER centimetres but five centimetres is the smallest that they usually appear to establish the provenance of siobhan s suspected meteorite it would have to be subject to a mineral breakdown but dr horton thinks the chances of it being extra terrestrial are slim around NUMBER NUMBER a year strike the earth s surface and considering the size of the earth it is very unlikely to be a meteorite however there is a possibility and there is no reason it couldn t happen he added yahoo groups sponsor NUMBER dvds free s p join now URL to unsubscribe from this group send an email to forteana unsubscribe URL your use of yahoo groups is subject to URL 