What on earth (from earth?) is this thing?

There was word around here that someone had found a falling metallic object nearby their house from what they figured was a shooting star. I thought about this thread when they said that, the object seemed very similar that they were describing. I will have to check into that now.

How much does the object weigh? What is it's size (LxWxH)? I have no idea how big a quarter is.

From these two pretty simple things we can work out the object's terminal velocity and the energy involved in a collision with Earth if it has fallen from outer space, be that from Us or Them!

Once we have the energy involved in the collision, we can approximate the impact crater size.

I'm sorry to say that something even the size and weight of a cricket ball (that's about the size of a tennis ball, and 5.5Oz for you guys in the States) would leave a sizeable crater and there would be little of it left unless it was solid rock or metal, if it fell from orbit. So a bit of burnt grass around a meter sized crater would be what I would be looking for.

Cheers
Stuart

Wow, I'm curious on that one! Subscribed

Good stuff!

the thing i noticed was the round part dead center looks like a perfect cross head hole for a screw driver +

Maybe it was screwed on to something?

Subscribing!!! This is very interesting!

could it be something launched from earth? like a home-made mortar by some kids?

Heck, with all the space junk out there falling back to earth everyday, it probably is. space junk survives reentry everyday, but most ends up in the oceans. And, no, there does not have to be a crater, that would depend on so much, angle of entry, weight, if it hit a tree first, ect. Freashly fallen meteorites (one of my hobbies) are found on top of the ground too. do a google image search for fallen space junk
But It should of made a sonic boom though as it came through the atmosphere. So, my guess, it is a torque converter from a 57' Chevy that blew up it's transmission.

its probably just a part of some UFO spaceship. no biggie.

When I was a kid we would routinely build plastic models, insert a firecracker and film the model as it rolled along and blew up. Sometimes we'd use lighter fluid so that it burned afterwards. The results looked very similar to this. My money says the round part is the wheel from a toy car of some sort.

Any new news?

Hmm...that may be the parts of the destroyed satellite that happened months ago. Awesome finding too.

Would it be possible to get a photo of the landing site? Although there is not a consensus about whether there should be a crater or not, it still might help to see a burn pattern or other clues.

This kind of reminds me of that movie 'Joe Dirt' where his pet meteor turns out to be a giant ball of frozen poo from a jetliner.

Mike,
Is Fernbank Science Center still open in Atlanta? They might be able to help identify it. Also, SCITrek if they are still around, but I would try Fernbank first.
Also, from the picture of the landing site, did anyone see if there are any burned spots on teh trees around there? If it hit a tree first the speed could drop dramatically and limit any crater effect...
Whatever it is - this is a great thread! I hope you and the family that found it are enjoying just imagining what it could be.

Subscribe, just in case something comes out this.

Look like age old dry cell that got burried in earth