Gaping hole in TN farm suspected to have been caused by meteorite

A resident of Achamangalam village in Tamil Nadu's Thirupattur district discovered a gaping hole in his farmland, reportedly caused by a meteorite strike on May 28. The man was taken aback to find heat emanating from the five-foot-deep crater that appeared suddenly in his field. Upon discovering the hole, he alerted the police and district officials, who rushed to the scene to investigate.

According to reports, the officials collected samples from the depth of the crater for further analysis. The samples have been sent to laboratories in Vellore and Chennai to determine the origin and nature of the mysterious object.

R Ravikumar, District Science Officer from the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre told TOI that samples of ash were taken from the site to be sent to Anna University and IIT Madras for further analysis. "This could be from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter," Ravikumar explained. "When a meteorite enters the Earth's atmosphere, it burns up due to friction."

While some villagers reported hearing a thud sound, Ravikumar said that small meteorites typically do not make noise upon impact. "There was no heat emanating from the crater when we collected the samples," he said.