‘Meteorite’ Found In Novato Turns Out To Be Just A Rock

October 24, 2012 6:55 AM

A meteorite found in Novato is believed to be a piece of the flaming fireball that streaked across northern California on Oct 17, 2012. (CBS)

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NOVATO (CBS/AP) — It turns out an object that hit a Novato home and thought to be a meteorite is just a rock.

A Novato homeowner heard the object hit her roof during last week’s meteor shower that lit up skies over the San Francisco Bay area.

She later read that a piece of meteor may have hit ground in her area and she found the 2-inch rock.

Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in Mountain View announced on Sunday that it was a meteorite.

But the chagrined meteor hunter told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday that it was actually a natural rock from Earth.

He said closer inspection of the object showed the surface wasn’t from fusion crusting but was weathering of a rock.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/10/26/mysterious-rock-found-in-novato-may-be-meteorite-after-all/ Mysterious Rock Found In Novato May Be Meteorite After All « CBS San Francisco

[...] Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in Mountain View examined the 2-inch chunk and pronounced it a meteorite, then later decided it was just weathered Earth granite. [...]