At a 71-degree angle, going 60 mph, an object went through the house of Bloomington residents David and Dee Riddle at 9:40 a.m. Monday morning. Although it has not been officially confirmed, the object is suspected to be a meteorite.

©Pantagraph/David Proeber
James Day, a professor of Geology at Illinois State University examines a space object that fell through the atmosphere and crashed through the window of a Bloomington home on Monday.

"I was in the kitchen when I heard the sound of glass breaking," Dee Riddle, whose house is located off of West Miller Street, said. "There was also a thump and a shake."

Riddle ran around the house to find the breaking glass. She found it in their bedroom in the back of the house.

©Pantagraph/David Proeber
Dee Riddle pointed out the blinds that were punctured from a some sort of object that fell through the atmosphere and crashed through her window Monday.

"It took me 15 minutes to look for it and then I found it," she explained.

After the object was spotted, she called the police to file a report.

"When I told them what I thought it was, they thought I was crazy," Riddle said. "Then they saw it and called the sergeant to look at it."

From there, the Fire Department came with Geiger counters to make sure it was not radioactive. Crime scene officials also came to investigate the ballistics of the impact.

"They did say it was a meteorite, but it needed to be tested," Riddle said.

Professors from ISU were also called to look at the scene and many of them, after dong some preliminary studies, said they speculate it is a meteorite.

"From what I know, this is consistent with meteorites," Jay Anser, a general education lab coordinator for the department of Physics, said.

Dave Malone, a professor in the department of Geology, said he is 80 percent sure this is a meteorite.

It is uncommon for meteorites to actually hit the ground.

"Most of the time they burn up completely," Skip Nelson, a professor in the department of Geology, said. "It is rare for them to land."

Nelson said the department of Geology gets about two calls per year of people who think they have found a meteorite, but they rarely turn out to be them.

"This is the first one that has even been close," he explained.

Even if the geologists at ISU are certain, there are tests that need to be done to confirm whether or not it is a meteorite. There are a number of tests that can be done, according to James Day, a professor in the department of Geology.

"It can be cut with a diamond saw and do a spectrogramic study," Day said. "Also, acid etching can be done, to determine its crystal structure,"

The object will need to be sent out in order to determine whether or not it is in fact a meteorite.