Aussie solves mystery to 'out of this world' beach find
The beachcomber who found the mysterious metal ball believes he now knows what it is.
An Aussie who found an unidentified metal ball on the beach believes he finally knows what it is — claiming it was washed up after travelling from "out of this world".
The avid beachcomber was in Far North Queensland three weeks ago when he found the mysterious sphere. "Puzzled" by the object, he continued to search for an answer and looked through "thousands of screenshots" on his mobile phone before an image caught his eye.
"It was only by chance I had screenshot an article several months ago of a metallic ball found in Africa," Phil Raymond Morris West told Yahoo News Australia. "When I compared the images I knew they were identical."
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Similar 'space ball' found in Namibia, Africa
Mr Morris West points to articles describing a "space ball" which was found in remote grassland in Namibia in 2011, believing his discovery is the same as the one which plummeted from the sky over a decade ago.
At the time it created considerable panic with locals who had no idea what it was. After several suggestions, authorities deemed it was most likely a fuel tank known as a 'hydrazine bladder tank' from an unmanned rocket, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Mr Morris West believes there are signs on his discovery which indicate it too has come from outer space, with similar spheres found previously in Australia before the object was found in Namibia.
"I knew by looking at it that the metal had been extremely hot at some stage... I believe it is more than likely this heavy metal ball crashed into the ocean before eventually washing ashore," he said.
The Aussie, who has been beachcombing for over four decades, said it is his most "unique" find yet despite discovering a long list of impressive items.
"From discovering debris from ships and planes that has solved some mysteries, to reuniting people with property they lost in the ocean years earlier, I thought I had found just about everything I could washed up."
Yahoo News understands there has been no official identification of the discovery.
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