Mysterious Blue Spheres Fall From Sky on Man's Yard in Bournemouth, England

Posted on January 31, 2012

Mysterious blue spheres fell on Steve Hornsby's yard in Bournemouth, England during a hail storm. The Guardian reports that Hornsby, an aircraft engineer, has been trying to determine what exactly the blue spheres are. They don't smell, they don't float, they don't dissolve and they are jelly-like. Take a look:

You can see some large photos of the blue spheres here. One of the original theories for what the spheres might be was marine invertebrate eggs, but that appears to have been ruled out. Researchers at Bournemouth University's School of Applied Sciences have obtained some of the mystery blue balls. They say the spheres resemble a product called "florists hydrating jelly." The scientists will run a chemical analysis to determine exactly what the mystery jelly is.

Bournemouth University�s School of Applied Sciences research assistant Josie Pegg says, "Speculation on the nature of the mystery jelly balls has provided much entertainment. But now that we have possession of a sample we can rule out some of the early guesses. Having examined the balls under a high powered microscope, we can discount living material. In fact the balls do look very much like the florists hydrating jelly, as suggested by some eagle-eyed members of the public. The next step will be to run chemical analysis of a sample of the mystery jelly, to determine its make-up, and at present a sample is desicating in preparation for this process."

WEATHER