A quick perusal of Merriam-Webster confirmed otherworldly is indeed a word.

Kings County Sheriff's Deputies arrived on the scene and found themselves confronted by a large metal object and weren’t quite sure what to make of the mysterious phenomenon.  Detectives – that’s why they call them detectives – put their heads together and decided to reach out to officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base (home of the 30th Space Wing), thinking that perhaps the iconic missile base may have misplaced one of its satellites.

Fortunately for local residents, the object landed in a lightly populated area of the Central Valley.

At first, the answer seemed natural. It was most likely a fuel tank from a communications satellite owned by Iridium – a global mobile satellite communications company.

After reaching out to Iridium, a representative from the company arrived in Hanford at the Kings County’s Sheriffs’ Office where the deputies held the object. The Iridium representative promptly identified the tank. Turns out it wasn’t a piece of ET’s space cruiser, but rather a hydrazine fuel tank that was formerly attached to a communications satellite owned and operated by Iridium.

Just to be sure, a spokesman for Iridium told The Leader that further examination of the object was required before the company could positively identify it as belonging to Iridium. “We have been contacted and asked if the object is ours. We don’t have that conclusion yet,” said Jordan Hassin, who said the object is on its way to a facility where the company can do an analysis and then come to a determination to see if it belongs to Iridium.

“We want to check it out and actually see if it is ours,” he said. “We don’t have that conclusion yet, but we recognized there is a possibility that it is.”

Initially, it was thought the object could be a part of Iridium Satellite No. 70,  launched from Vandenberg in late 1997 or early 1998 where it remained in low-earth orbit until eventually entering earth's atmosphere and crashing into an innocent walnut grove.  The purpose of the tank was to store fuel used to change the orbit of the satellite in space. 

According to Iridium, the tank in question is the first piece ever recovered from an Iridium satellite re-entering earth's atmosphere, and the company says it will be scrutinized. 

“We have the only communications network that covers the entire world,” said Hassin. “The original network of satellites is being replaced by new satellites.”

He added that the company is in the process of bringing down old satellites replacing them with new ones. “When we heard of this one we were very interested, and we wanted to assess it as quickly as possible.”