Nicaragua officials have sought aid from the United States and international groups to investigate a purported meteorite that crashed near the country's capital last week, leaving a 39-foot-wide crater.
The space object didn't cause any injuries on Saturday despite landing close to Managua, a city that is home to around 1.2 million people, the AFP reported.
While the blast left a hole about 40 feet wide and 19 feet deep, NASA scientists have expressed uncertainty as to the identity of the space object.
In early reports, Nicaraguan astronomers thought the impact may have been related to an asteroid that flew by Earth over the weekend, but other scientists have dismissed the theory that a piece chipped off the 2014 RC asteroid in question.
"Information is limited, but the miss distance of 2014 RC actually precludes any related meteorite impact" at the Managua crater site, MIT asteroid expert Richard Binzel said in an email to National Geographic.
Nicaragua is looking for outside help to learn more about events similar to Saturday's meterorite crash, said presidential spokeswoman and First Lady Rosario Murillo, according to the AFP. Foreign scientific journals may also send staff to examine the site, said Murillo.
Because the country has more than 20 volcanoes and is regularly rocked by earthquakes, Nicaragua's seismic sensors weren't able to detect the impact event this weekend.
Media reports about the small meteorite near Managua have yet to be confirmed, according to the latest NASA report, dated Monday.
"As yet, no eyewitness accounts or imagery have come to light of the fireball flash or debris trail that is typically associated with a meteor of the size required to produce such a crater," NASA said. "Since the explosion in Nicaragua occurred a full 13 hours before the close passage of asteroid 2014 RC, these two events are unrelated."
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