Far Out! Granny gets gift from outer space as small suspected meteorite hits her house

On Monday, a huge bang was heard in many districts of Phitsanulok while residents ate their breakfasts. People all over the province took to Facebook to comment on the mysterious, loud noise that some compared to a gunshot.

Turns out local grandmother Bualom Chalomprai knew exactly where the sound came from. After she heard the noise at her home, something immediately crashed through her house, smashing a photo of a famous monk before landing on the floor, according to Sanook.

It looked like a small rock, about 5-centimeter-long. When it landed on Bualom’s floor, she said it was too hot to touch and that, even twenty four hours later, it was still hot.

Bualom reported the rock incident to the police but actually thought some local kids were just causing trouble. It wasn’t until she was chatting about the noise with her neighbor that she figured out what might have happened.

The National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) has not yet examined the object but their staff has been following its discovery and subsequent photos on social media.

NARIT Deputy Director-General Dr. Sarun Posayajinda said that, from what he had seen on social media, it’s likely a meteorite judging by the burns and melting on the item’s surface. Those are common when an item enters Earth’s atmosphere.

Dr. Sarun said that the item looked similar to meteoroids that fell in Phitsanulok and in Kanchanaburi last year, according to Thai PBS.

The director explained that a meteoroid is a chemically harmless, small rocky or metallic body that travels through outer space. To determine if what flew through Bualom’s house is a meteoroid, it needs to be tested in a laboratory and, reportedly, the granny has agreed to this.

Meteorites falling to Earth are fairly normal and, each year, over 1 million kilos worth of them fall to earth or sea. They are highly collectible and the most valuable, those that come from Mars, can be worth THB10 million, according to Dr. Sarun.

For Bualom’s part, she has moved the suspected meteorite to a place of honor in her home and can’t wait to show it to her grandkids.

“It must have come from outer space,” she said proudly.