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Object from sky ID'd as meteorite

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FREEHOLD, N.J., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The mysterious object that came through the roof of a house in New Jersey, gutting a second-floor bathroom, was a meteorite, experts said Friday.

Jeremy Delaney of Rutgers University told The New York Times the meteorite, which has been christened Freehold Township in honor of the town where it landed, is only the second known to have hit the state. The other was found in Deal, a coastal resort near Freehold, in 1829.

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The owners of the house where the meteorite landed -- and thus the owners of the meteorite -- have asked not to be publicly identified, Freehold police said. They have also not authorized physical testing of the rock, although Delaney and other experts have been able to look at it.

Delaney said it resembles Ahnighito, a meteorite from Greenland that is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History.

"This little guy is a lot like it," he said. "It's a good candidate for the core of an asteroid."

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