Authorities Have Yet To Identify Source

A metal object the size of a golf ball weighing nearly a pound punched though the roof of a home in Monmouth County, NJ leaving authorities not only wondering where it came from, but even what it is.

Police on Wednesday displayed the object, said to be rough-feeling with a metallic glint. Lieutenant Robert Brightman told the Associated Press, "There's some great interest in what we have here. It's rather unusual. I haven't seen anything like it in my career."

Yesterday morning authorities received a call from the unidentified homeowners the objects had fallen through their roof and into a bathroom where it damaged tiles on the floor before bouncing and sticking in a wall.

The family told police they don't wish to talk to the media and the police are withholding their name and address. The homeowner did tell authorities he wasn't at home at the time the object crashed through his roof, but his mother was. When she told him something had hit the roof after he came home from work, he investigated and found the object late Tuesday evening.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray said the agency sent an investigator to the scene who was unable to identify the object.

Astronomy professor Carlton Pryor with Rutgers University told the Associated Press something like 20 to 50 celestial objects fall to the Earth every day. Although Pryor hasn't seen the object in question, he says, "It's not all that uncommon to have rocks rain down from heaven. These are usually rocky or a mixture of rock and metal."

Pryor said lab tests could positively determine if the object is a meteorite.

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