BLOOMINGTON - A Bloomington couple caught a falling star Monday morning, not quite in their pockets but in a bedroom of their house. | Photo gallery | Video

A chunk of metal that crashed through the bedroom window of David and Dee Riddle's home, 25 Partner Place, just after 9:30 a.m. appears to be a meteorite, but it also could be a piece of space junk, according to preliminary analysis by several Illinois State University geology professors.

However, the professors who had a look at it agree that whatever the heavy, gray object that crashed through their window is, it definitely came from space.

Robert "Skip" Nelson, a professor of geology at ISU, came out to Riddles' home to take a look at the object, which is about the size of deck of cards.

Nelson said that based on the density of the object, the metal could be a combination of iron and nickel or a heavy stainless steel. It is unlikely a satellite or spacecraft would contain metal that heavy and dense, Nelson said.

"In my 36 years of investigating meteorite calls, this looks like the real thing," Nelson said.

Nelson said the next step will be to call the United State Geological Survey's meteorite center in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The steep entry angle into the house and the speed the object when it crashed into the house makes Nelson certain it was not a rock thrown at the window. Eric Peterson, an assistant professor of geology, calculated the possible meteorite's speed as 60 mph when it hit the house.

Dee Riddle, who runs a day-care center out of the couple's home, said she heard the crash and felt the house shake around 9:30 a.m.

"My first thought was a bathroom mirror fell so I immediately started looking," she said. "That's when I found the hole in the mini-blinds and the broken window.

"We were just lucky no one was sitting at the computer when it happened."

Dee Riddle had been on the other side of the wall, working in the kitchen.

Glass pieces were found across the room along with bits of the blue mini-blinds.

In addition to breaking through the window, the possible meteorite punched a hole in the particleboard computer desk.

After calling her husband, Dee Riddle called the police and fire departments. The fire department was able to determine the item was not radioactive.

That was probably good because Dee Riddle picked it up once she found it under the computer desk.

"It was very heavy for being so small," Dee Riddle said.

After taking it back to Felmley Hall, an ISU science building, Nelson measured the object.

It weighs 402.41 grams or just less than a pound. It measured about 3 inches long by about 2.5 inches across and about half an inch thick.

James "Jed" Day, a professor of paleontology, studied the possible meteorite and said the ridge along one side makes the item look more manmade than natural.

Meanwhile David Malone, professor and chairman of ISU's geology and geography department, said he can see where Day would think it is manmade and it still could be. But Malone said the density makes it more likely a meteorite than something from a spacecraft.

Nelson said he receives an average of one to two calls a year to investigate a possible meteorite in Central Illinois. He has not found one that turned out to be the real thing.

Mostly what he has been called to turned out to be iron foundry slag or chunks of coal, Nelson said.

The last confirmed meteorite to hit Bloomington was in 1938.