Meteorite Believed to Have Blasted Home in Central Java
JG & Antara | October 05, 2010
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Jakarta. The government is sending a team of scientists to investigate a suspected meteorite that struck a home in Karanganyar, Central Java, early on Monday.
The blast was reported to have damaged the roof, kitchen and dining room in the home of Suryono in Ngringo village, but no injuries were reported.
State news agency Antara reported that the impact produced a loud bang and shattered several windows in the house.
The heat generated from the blast reportedly melted several plastic objects in the kitchen and left the metal tableware hot.
An egg-sized rock retrieved from the roof is believed to be a remnant of a meteorite.
On Tuesday, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan) said it would send a team to the site today to investigate.
Lapan spokeswoman Elly Kuntjahyowati said personnel from the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten) were already at the site on Tuesday to check for traces of radiation.
She said the Lapan team would include Prof. Thomas Djamaluddin, the head of atmospheric sciences and chief of astronomy research at the space agency.
“It was reported to us that the object in question is a chunk of black, scalding rock,” Elly said, adding the object had been removed from Suryono’s house and was being kept at the Central Java Police’s forensics lab.
Rini Astuti, the head of the lab, said police were combing the site for any evidence from the blast, and had retrieved a 12-kilogram gas canister and the melted kitchen utensils to determine the degree of heat from the so-called meteorite.
In April, a falling object damaged three homes in East Jakarta but caused no injuries.
Although authorities failed to find conclusive evidence of what the object was, Lapan ruled that a meteorite strike was the most likely explanation.
Last October, a mysterious explosion in Bone, South Sulawesi, was determined to have been a meteorite that hit the earth’s atmosphere at a mind-boggling 20.3 kilometers per second.
According to Lapan’s Thomas, the blast released energy equal to 50 kilotons of TNT, more than three times the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
A 9-year-old girl died of cardiac arrest after hearing the explosion, and shock waves damaged homes in Bone’s Panyula village.
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