Mystery over metal pieces falling from sky in Gujarat continues

Metal fragments of all shapes and sizes have been falling from the sky in Gujarat over the last week.

On May 12, 3 metal balls fell in Bhalej, Khambholaj and Rampura villages of Gujarat's Anand district. The police at that time had said that preliminary inspection shows that the metal balls could be part of a satellite.

More such incidents have been reported from Vadodara, Kheda and Sojitra districts since then.

Forensic experts have been called, a team from ISRO has collected samples but there has been no comment from them so far.

Providing one explanation for the incidents, astronomer Jonathan McDowell had tweeted on May 12 that the debris could possibly be from the 're-entry of the third stage of a Chinese launch rocket. The rocket had lifted off on September 9, 2021, carrying a 5,500-kg communication satellite to geostationary transit orbit.

In an interview to Indian Express, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said that he was identifying the debris based on tracking data which shows that the Chinese launch rocked was the only reentry that went near India on May 12.

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He also told Indian Express that though the predicted path was 1000 kms north of villages where the metal objects fell but it is within the uncertainities range.