Chennai: Days after a mystery explosion killed one person in Vellore, a laboratory in Trichy went against NASA's opinion and said it was caused by a meteorite.
The National College in Trichy made the preliminary observation after a 5-member team visited the site at the Bharathidasan Engineering College and collected pieces of the fallen material.
Analysis under a Scanning Electron Microscope showed it was carbonaceous chondrite -- a kind of stony meteorite. There was presence of iron, titanium and sulphur.
This, together with a white fume trajectory observed after the explosion helped them conclude that it was a meteorite strike.
The team intends to carry out a detailed chemical analysis which will be published shortly.
The dark bluish stone found at the site is also being studied by scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru who are yet to reveal their findings.
This comes a few days after NASA contradicted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's claim that the man died from a meteorite strike -- an event considered by scientists as extremely rare.
NASA scientists had said the photos posted online were more consistent with "a land based explosion" rather than with something from space.
The explosion created a crater, with an eyewitnesses claiming that the object fell from the sky. It killed a bus driver working in the college and injured three gardeners.
If it turns out to be a meteorite strike, this would have been the first scientifically confirmed report in history of such a fatality.
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