A Durham scientist yesterday said a piece of rock which hit a young girl might have been a meteorite.
Siobhan Cowton from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, was about to get into her family car at 10.30am on Thursday last week when something fell out of the sky and hit her on her foot. At first the 14-year-old thought the odd-looking stone had been thrown at her by a child, but then she looked closer and realised it was not your average garden gravel.
"I looked at it again and it had a black and grey colour with a shiny bubble surface," she said.
The stone also felt hot as the teenager picked it up.
The teenager now plans to take her find to Durham University, where experts will examine the rock and inform her if it really is a meteorite.
Dr Ben Horton, a lecturer in physical geography at the university, said there is a possibility that this rock could be a meteorite.
He said: "A visual examination could be done by the girl herself. Meteors have features that can be used to establish whether it is a piece of extraterrestrial rock.
"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 60 centimetres but five centimetres is the smallest that they usually appear."
Siobhan will have to take her suspected meteor for a mineral breakdown to see if it really is an extraterrestrial stone.
