Courts caught between space rock, hard place
Who owns objects that fall from space? That is the question facing judges in an out-of-thisworld dispute featuring a museum, two geologists and a Swedish Count. The courts in Uppsala district in Sweden are being asked to determine ownership of a small meteorite that landed two years ago in 2,500 acres (1,012 hectares) of land owned by Count Johan Benzelstierna von Engestrom. According to media reports, he was snoozing at about 11:30 p.m. when a giant flash illuminated the night sky. “I had fallen asleep while watching the documentary about Apollo 13,” he said. “So I missed the whole spectacle.” Others in the town of Enkoping, about an hour's drive northwest of the capital Stockholm, reported a deafening bang that sounded like a nuclear explosion. Soon after, geologists Andreas Forsberg and Anders Zetterqvist began searching for the object, The Times of London reported. Their initial efforts proved fruitless, but a month later they hit pay dirt — discovering a shiny blue-black object made of iron. Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere, or plunge into the sea, but this is thought to be the first meteorite landing of its kind in Sweden since the 1950s. The 14 kg object was taken to the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, where it now sits in legal limbo after a suit was launched by the Count demanding its return to him. He argues that Swedish law prevents people from illegally moving rocks and gravel from private land. But the geologists counter that no one can lay claim to objects from the heavens, and have cited the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to buttress their argument. The museum will take the meteorite to the court while the matter is adjudicated. A decision is expected before the end of the year.