Gunnar Raade of the museum told Aftenposten.no that he's convinced the odd-, spongey-looking stone that Bjørn Herigstad found in his yard near Stavanger on Sunday is no meteorite.
"I have asked him to send me some pieces of the stone, but I can already say, based on pictures I've seen on the Internet, that it's a rock from earth," said Raade, who has worked with meteorites for 25 years.
Herigstad got the impression from local astronomers and a professor in astro-physics that it was indeed a meteorite lying near a mysterious hole in the ground that he also discovered on his property before finding the two-kilo hunk of stone.
Now he wonders whether someone was playing a practical joke on him. He admits he should have sought more professional opinions before contacting the media.
"I'll take good care of the stone regardless," he said. "I've never experienced anything like this before."
