Grahams Road -
A mysterious ball of fire that crashed into a farmer's field here Saturday has attracted the attention of a meteorite expert.
Dr. Robert Hawkes, professor and head of the physics department at Mount Allison University, contacted P.E.I. Fire Marshall Dave Blacquiere on Tuesday and expressed interest in investigating the incident.
"I've been in contact with him and I'm hoping to visit the site with him today (Tuesday)," said Blacquiere.
Louis and Clemmie Campbell were outside their home Saturday morning when they heard a loud swishing sound and noticed a white ball of fire fall from the sky and land near their home. A small fire broke out as a result of the impact, but was quickly extinguished by Clemmie.
Though it's not clear at this time what the fireball was, it's looking unlikely it was a meteorite as first suggested by witnesses.
"The facts I relayed to him (Hawkes) had him believing it's probably not a meteorite," Blacquiere said.
Michael Nesbitt, a member of the Athena Community Astronomy Club, has inspected the site where the fireball impacted and while he wasn't willing to guess as to what caused the fire, he also doubts it was a meteorite.
"There was nothing obvious to have impacted the ground," said Nesbitt, adding that a meteorite would have left fragments of some kind.
"There could be a thousand explanations."
