Hong Kong CNN —A mystery object that washed ashore on Australia’s western coast sparking a flurry of local excitement and speculation over its origin is most likely space junk, police said Tuesday. The Western Australia Police Force said in a statement on Tuesday that the item is believed to be “space debris”, echoing similar comments from the country’s space agency which was working on the same hypothesis. But space junk looks the most likely explanation. “The object could be from a foreign space launch vehicle and we are liaising with global counterparts who may be able to provide more information,” the Australian Space Agency tweeted on Monday. “Just as general rule, you don’t touch space junk unless you need to,” she said.

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Persons: Alice Gorman, ” Gorman, Gorman, ” Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Western Australia Police Force, Police, Department of Fire, Emergency Service, Chemistry, of Western, Australian Space Agency, Flinders University, CNN Locations: Hong Kong, Perth, of Western Australia, Adelaide, India