‘Meteorite’ crashes on school

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – The principal of Negros Occidental High School (NOHS) here is looking for geologists who can confirm the authenticity of a rock believed to be a meteorite that fell on the school grounds last week.

NOHS principal Mario Amaca said in an interview with Aksyon Radyo Bacolod that a school staff heard an explosion around 3 p.m. of June 4. The blast was similar to an exploding power transformer.

“Kakusog gid sang lagabong (The sound was very loud),” Amaca said.

According to Janet Sarcillo, she personally saw the glowing rock fall from the sky to the ground.

“Ga baga ang bato tapos gulpi gadako pagdag-dag asta nga naglupok todo-todo, kadasig lang,” she added.

No injuries and significant damages on the school were reported.

Amaca said they took the rock and soaked it into the water.

“High temperature gid siya, tapos bisan kiskisan ga puti, ga balik siya gyapon sa black,” he added.

Amaca said the rock is now in their custody and they are waiting for authorities who can provide exact specifications and confirmation about its kind.

According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), meteoroids are objects in space that range in size from dust grains to small asteroids. Think of them as “space rocks.”

When meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.

When a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s called a meteorite.