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Woman hanging out washing 'hit by meteorite'
By Mark Prigg, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 17.08.04A woman believes she was hit by a meteorite fragment while hanging out her washing.
Pauline Aguss was in the garden when she felt a searing pain and noticed a cut on her arm. She said: "It looked black and peculiar. I went indoors and put a plaster on."
It was not until the next day that her husband Jack found a walnut-sized rock on the path. Mrs Aguss, 76, of Lowestoft, Suffolk, said: "It was an odd shape and you could see a few small crystals in it.
"That is when we realised it might have been a meteorite and now, after talking to people who know about these things, we are 99 per cent certain." The odds against being hit by a meteorite are billions to one. On average one a week falls to earth but most are burned up as they enter the atmosphere at 40,000mph.
Norfolk Astronomical Society chairman Mark Lawrick-Thompson said: "There is a good chance this is a meteorite. It is very rare indeed to find one."
