the villagers of Pipalia Kalan in western Rajasthan were dumbfounded on hearing a thunderous roar from the north-east sky followed by three consecutive blinding flashes of light on the evening of June 20. Hours later, on coming out of their houses, they found a large pitch black stony object about a feet in diameter and weighing about 20 kg, lying in a two feet deep pit. The phenomena of burning of meteorites in the earth's atmosphere is called 'shooting stars' in common parlance. However, infrequent incidences like these do occur when meteorites survive and fall on the earth's surface. A spokesperson of the B M Birla Planetarium, Jaipur, said specimens of the rocks fallen from space had been brought to Jaipur by a team of scientists. Villagers of Pipalia Kalan conducted their own experiments on the fallen celestial pieces. Some curious youngsters broke the meteorite piece with an iron hammer, but all that came out was a gunpowder like substance.
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