Meteorite almost hits Norwegian skydiver in free fall

Footage has been posted online of an apparent 300mph meteorite almost hitting a skydiver as he descended to earth.

Anders Helstrup, wearing a skydiving wing suit with two cameras fixed to his helmet, the apparent space rock hurtled past the man as his parachute opens and then disappears.

Norwegian TV Channel NRK interviewed the skydiver on the near miss in Summer 2012:

Having no idea what had gone past him until he looked at the footage, he explained to NRK.no:

The skydiver, his friends and meteorologists have now begun searching a wide area to look for the rock. So far no rock has been found, but Helstrup said he did come close on one occasion:

Geologist Hans Amundsen who has been working to identify the meteorite, has pointed out that the area and terrain is difficult to search in which is thick forest and marshland.

Rocks are extremely common in this area with meteors looking very similar to ground stones.

After a meteorite enters the atmosphere it blazes across the sky and enters the stage called "dark flight"; it then no longer travels at an angle, but falls straight down.

Amundsen also doesn't believe that the rock is anything but a meteorite:

In 2012, Helstrup then begun searching an area of one and a half square kilometres, which has since narrowed.

Helstrup told NRK.no:

The below video shows the front and back helmet camera during the jump:

After Helstrup uploaded the video to YouTube it has now caused a big debate online regarding its authenticity.

After retuning to Oslo, he took the footage to the Natural History Museum in Oslo he said: