We have all heard of shooting stars and we consider them lucky as well. But in scientific terms, they are actually some space particles falling on Earth which can be dangerous also. Not only this, a lot of particles fall on Earth in different areas. Here are some of the strange things to fall from outer space.
Strange Things To Fall From Outer Space
1. Meteorites
We all must have heard the terms ‘falling stars’ or ‘shooting stars. But these are actually not stars but small pieces of rocks having less than 1 diameter coming from outer space which produces some light in the sky making us think about stars and are referred to as meteoroids. There are very few meteoroids that reach the ground of the Earth and the reaching ones are called meteorites. Pieces that get burnt and destroyed in the sky before reaching Earth are acknowledged as meteors. Nearly 500 Meteorites fall on the ground but just 5 or 6 are got.
2. Diamonds Phosphorescing
In Nubian Desert Sudan, a meteoroid fell on Earth in 2008 it got trapped by scientists before landing on the Earth and was named ‘Almahata Sitta’. When fragments were recovered and examined, scientists found that the meteoroid not only contained rocks but also diamonds. You must be thinking that diamonds are found more easily on Earth than in outer space but, studies concluded that the diamonds inside Almahata Sitta were actually the biggest diamonds ever seen. When asteroids crash, extreme heat I produced which crushes the carbon and creates tiny diamonds.
Also Read: Top 10 Space Discoveries Of The 21st century
Image Source: James St. JohnFollow
3. Nuclear Waste
The Soviet Union launched a Russian satellite named Kosmos 954 in 1977. But due to some faults, the nuclear reactor which had to get separated did not separate and remained attached. Due to this, instead of reaching space, satellites came back to Earth, and the radioactive debris knock-out in Northern Canada after a year.
To regain the debris a program named Operation Morning Light was planned in which a team was scattered over an area of 48000 square miles in Yellowknife. They investigated the complete area for several months. The complete program was planned in two phases to retrieve the 12 bid pieces of debris. Out of these 12 pieces, only 2 pieces were not radioactive and this incident is considered to be one of the most well-known crashes.
Image Source: Wikimedia
4. A Person
Felix Baumgartner also renowned as fearless Felix is a well-known skydiver and Austrian BASE jumper. He got famous in 2012 when he participated in Red Bull Stratos’ daredevil jump. He used a helium balloon to reach the stratosphere which is considered the second major layer of the Earth’s surface. He made a freefall of 36402.6 meters back to Earth and not only this, Felix was the first human who smashed the barrier of sound outside a vehicle.
His highest speed was about 844 miles per hour and with this, he got famous all over the world. On 14th October, his heroic jump was telecasted on televisions, mobiles, and computers. In just a fall of 4 minutes, he felt claustrophobic because of his bodysuit and mask. With this, he made a world record and in 2014, this title was received by Alan Eustace.
Image Source: NASA
5. Rocket Fuel Tank
In Murcia, Spain, two shepherds noticed some strange objects in their field. Because of its size and shape, Francisco and Juan Espin Dell thought that this metal object came down from some military aircraft and so, they informed the civil guard about this. The NRBQ protocol was started to find out whether the object was bacterial, chemical, nuclear, or radiological in nature. Officers arrived on the spot to examine the object and got to know that it was a fuel tank of a rocket that had fallen from outer space.
Image Source: Wikimedia
6. Unidentified Fireballs
In September 2019, Chile observed something mysterious falling from the sky. It was like flaming fireballs that covered the whole sky in Southern Chile. These fireballs even caused fires in the bushes in seven places around Chiloe Island. People thought it was some UFOs or meteoroids but the officials stated them to be some space fragments.
Also Read: Top 10 Brightest Objects In The Solar System
7. Satellite
Anything whether a machine, planet, or Earth when sent to space for revolving around other bodies gives a thorough view and information. Crossing every kind of dust, cloud, molecule, and particle, satellite provides us with data more speedily and clearly. The initial artificial satellite sent to space was Sputnik 1 by NASA on 4 October 1957.
International Space Station is known to be the prime satellite revolving around the Earth. Among all 2500 satellites ranging around Earth, most of them move at a speed of 18000 miles per hour. Also, some natural satellites are also present in our space as Moon and the Earth.
Image Source: Ars Electronica
8. Metal Shreds
Suddenly, cities of Argentina observed an attack of metal shreds having radiant traces in February 1991. This was actually scary to see such a metallic rain that actually occurred due to Russian space station Salyut-7. It is considered to be one of the most enormous space objects to collapse on Earth. The fragments were so big that all the attempts failed. The engineers tried to move down these fragments into the Atlantic Ocean but because of low orbit, all efforts were in vain. It resulted in the fall of such metal fragments of space station weighing around 88000 pounds on the Earth.
Image Source: Wikimedia
9. Space station Skylab
NASA launched its first space station in 1973and named it the Skylab. With a weight of around 199750 pounds, Skylab was fitted with commands and service components, solar observatories, and workshops. Sent in space in 1973 in May, it came back in February 1974. NASA had a vision of keeping this satellite in space for a decade failed and in fact, Skylab had to face massive destruction because of high solar rays in the atmosphere. Ultimately on 11th July 1979 Skylab fell to pieces and was dispersed all around Western Australia and the Indian Ocean.
Image Source: NASA Johnson
10. Space Balls
An event took place in Vietnam in 2015. The people of Vietnam witnessed three balls of metal that after colliding together fell on the Earth’s surface. The people of the region called these falling metal balls space balls. After various types of research, the officials concluded these balls to be a part fallen from a Russian rocket because of some indications relating it to Russia.
Various conclusions were tried to make as these balls could be the pieces of any rocket or spacecraft from Russia which may get ineffective in reaching space and got damaged in Vietnam. Through proper information about these spaces, balls are not known but were tried fully to study them.
Also Read: Top 10 Biggest Things In The Universe
Image Source: Official SpaceX Photos
11. Golf Balls
You might have heard about cautionary stories involving hail the size of golf balls, but in 1969 in Punta Gorda, Florida, actual golf balls fell from the sky. Strangely, no local golf courses reported missing any balls. The cause was never definitively confirmed, but experts speculated that a waterspout had gathered all the golf balls that had been hit into the water by less accurate golfers. News reports documented this bizarre event, leaving the local community both surprised and amused by the unexpected rainfall of golf balls, a phenomenon that added an unusual twist to the usual weather-related news.
12. The cow crusher
On October 15, 1972, farmers in Trujillo, Venezuela, were startled by a loud sonic boom. The following day, they discovered a significant rock near a deceased cow, its body crushed. Several years later, scientists officially identified the rock as a meteorite named Valeria. Remarkably, this meteorite holds a unique record as the only one known to have caused a fatality, albeit of a cow. The incident serves as a rare example of the potential dangers posed by celestial bodies entering Earth’s atmosphere and emphasizes the need for understanding and monitoring such events for the safety of both humans and animals.
13. Money
Instances of money falling from the sky have occurred throughout history, with some recent examples. In 2015, Kuwait City witnessed a shower of United Arab Emirates dirham currency worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of the most strange things to fall from outer space, Serbia faced a different twist in 2018 when a plane carrying gold and diamonds accidentally spilt some cargo onto the airport runway. Closer to home, Indianapolis had its own money rain in 2017 when an electrician noticed about $200 in bills blowing off a roof where he was working. In cases like Kuwait and Indianapolis, the source of the money remains a mystery, leaving residents and law enforcement puzzled. It’s a literal money shower!
14. Blood
Picture a scene from The Purge, but in Zamora, Spain, it wasn’t fiction—residents witnessed a real-life blood rain. Yes, you heard that right. The crimson-hued liquid falling from the sky resembled blood, sparking speculation about its origin. However, it turns out these “red rains” are natural. The colour comes from a microalgae plant, producing a red pigment under stress. Scientists believe the algae’s spores got trapped in rain clouds. The mystery deepens as these microorganisms aren’t native to Zamora, leaving scientists puzzled about how they travelled to the region. Despite its eerie appearance, the blood rain phenomenon has a scientific explanation tied to microalgae.
15. Candy Storm
In 1987, Lake County, California, had a taste of life in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory when candy fell from the sky—twice! Author Lyman L. Palmer called it an “uncommon and curious phenomenon,” as sugar lumps nearly a ¼ inch in size rained down. Similar to Hondurans enjoying fish rain, Lake County residents delighted in this sugary spectacle, even turning it into a sweet opportunity. Embracing the whimsical event, they made syrup from the candy rain, turning an unexpected meteorological occurrence into a delightful experience reminiscent of a fairy tale or a page from Willy Wonka’s enchanting world.
16. Bats
In January 2018, Australia, recorded another peculiar phenomenon: boiled bat rain. Yes, you read that right. Campbelltown residents found themselves witnessing this bizarre event as a scorching heatwave pushed local temperatures to a sweltering 111.5 degrees F—exceeding the heat tolerance of the area’s bat species by 25.5 degrees F. The extreme temperatures caused bats to overheat, leading them to fall from trees, creating a scary scene. During the Campbelltown boiled bat rain, over 200 bats were discovered scattered on the ground, providing a shocking example of the impact that extreme weather conditions can have on local wildlife.
17. Sylacauga
In 1954, Ann Hodges, a 31-year-old woman, was asleep on her couch when a meteorite the size of a grapefruit crashed through her roof, hitting her on the hip. This incident led to the meteorite being commonly referred to as the Hodges Meteorite and the town of Sylacauga became associated with this unusual event. Ann Hodges’s encounter with the celestial object while she rested at home remains a unique and memorable episode in the history of space phenomena, leaving a lasting connection between her name and the unexpected visitor from the cosmos. It is one of the most strange things to fall from outer space in the world.
18. A pea-sized meteorite
Back in 2009, 14-year-old Gerrit Blank was walking home from school in Germany when he witnessed a sudden flash of light. Almost instantly, a pea-sized rock brushed against his hand before crashing into the ground, forming a crater about a foot wide. Luckily, Gerrit escaped relatively uninjured, with only a scar on his hand as a memory of the unusual incident. This firsthand encounter with a celestial object adds a unique chapter to Gerrit’s life story, marking the day he had a close encounter with a space rock on his way home from school.
19. Spiders
For the people who fear spiders, this nightmare is the stuff of horror. In 2015, Australia witnessed thousands of baby spiders raining down from the sky, a fear-inducing event. Isn’t that uncommon? Australia, known for its natural wonders, experienced this strange phenomenon, with one resident describing his house as “abandoned and taken over by spiders.” Brazil faced a similar situation in 2019, and firsthand accounts of spiders seemingly “falling” from the skies aren’t unheard of. The idea of tiny spiders descending from the sky adds a spine-chilling layer to the fear of creepy crawlies, making it a particularly troublesome experience.
20. Space Junk
In January 1997, a woman in Oklahoma witnessed a streak of light in the night sky. Moments later, she felt a metallic object brush her shoulder. Surprisingly, it was a fragment from the propellant tank of a U.S. Delta II rocket launched in 1996. Meanwhile, NASA reported that another part of the same rocket, a 580-pound fuel tank, had descended and hit the ground in Texas. This incident highlights the issue of space debris, with abandoned rocket parts posing a risk by either floating in space or potentially falling to Earth unexpectedly. The incident serves as a reminder of the challenges posed by space junk.
These are the 20 most strange things to fall from outer space. Kindly share and do post your comments.
