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7: Orgueil Meteorite

The Orgueil meteorite burned through the atmosphere in May of 1864, disintegrating into 20 pieces on its way to Orgueil, France.

The fragments were soft enough to be cut with a knife and soon the Orgueil samples had made their way to museums around the world.

Since then, the Orgueil meteorite's caused nothing but controversy, with scientists speculating that its organic material might be proof of extraterrestrial life and puzzling over what looked to be fossilized remains in the meteor. Exciting stuff right?

Not really. While the meteorite itself was real, its signs of life were a fraud.

The culprit? Some pollen seeds glued onto the space stone with a little coal dust. Not so out of this world at all.

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