By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental High School (NOHS) principal Mario Amaca said that personnel from Mines and Geosciences Bureau arrived at the school yesterday morning to examine the meteorite they recovered at the school grounds.

According to Amaca, the personnel examined the space rock and they concluded that it has the same metal component as other meteorites recovered here on Earth.

However, Amaca said the space rock would need further evaluation and tests to confirm if it is indeed a real meteorite.

The space rock will be sent to the National Museum of the Philippines in Metro Manila which will carry out the evaluation and testing, although Amaca said initial assessment by the National Museum based on images and videos forwarded to the agency revealed it is “between 80 to 90 percent meteorite.”

Amaca added they are currently waiting for the travel restrictions to be lifted before transporting the space rock to Manila.

The meteorite which measured three-inches in diameter crashed at the school’s security barracks on the afternoon of June 4.

A meteorite is the term given to a piece of a comet or asteroid that falls into the Earth’s atmosphere and survives to hit the surface.

The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), meanwhile, stated that most space rocks smaller than a football field will break apart in Earth’s atmosphere.

Traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour, the object disintegrates as pressure exceeds the strength of the object, resulting in a bright flare.

Typically less than five percent of the original object will ever make it down to the ground. These meteorites, pieces of meteors that are found, typically range between the size of a pebble and a fist./DGB, WDJ