Origin Of Mysterious ‘Space Object’ Found In Minnesota Field Revealed

Last week, a large metal object was found by a farmer while harvesting corn in West Central Minnesota that officials presumed to have come from space.

The Stevens County Sheriff's Office shared late last week that a farmer had called the office on the afternoon of October 13 to report a large, round metal object that was roughly 11 feet in diameter in his field.

The Sheriff's Office called in state and federal officials as part of the investigation into where this mysterious object came from in this field in Scott Township near Alberta, which is just southwest of Morris, Minnesota.

The metal object in the field had charring on it, which suggested it had been exposed to heat as though it had entered Earth's atmosphere. While some online quickly speculated "aliens", it was pointed out that the metal object had clearly printed serial numbers on it, suggesting it was something originally from Earth.

While it was just discovered last week while harvesting corn, the farmer theorized that the object had been there for about 6 weeks based on the corn beneath the object.

The working theory was that the object was space junk of some kind, which was confirmed by Ars Technica in the following days.

The tech publication linked the object to a Chinese rocket that burned up in mid- September after completing its mission.

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The rocket took off from a remote location in the Gobi Desert, released 10 satellites into orbit, and then "reignited its engine and put itself on a trajectory to rain down debris over the American Midwest".

The rocket burning up in the atmosphere was captured on video across the Midwest, including this video south of Marshall, Minnesota, and another from Wisconsin.

Most of the rocket burnt up on reentry into the atmosphere, but some pieces can survive that, as experts believe was the case of the object found in the Minnesota field last week.