Air Force officials have identified a mysterious metal object that fell from the sky last week and landed in a Hanford, California, walnut orchard.

Detectives with the Kings County Sheriff's Office were called to the central California orchard on Saturday after the owner discovered the strange metal object on his property, KGET-TV reported.

Perplexed, the sheriff's office reached out to Vandenberg Air Force Base to see if they could shed some light on the origins of the object.

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Air Force officials identified the object as a fuel tank from Iridium satellite No. 70, a communications satellite launched in the late-1990s.

The satellite, which is no longer in orbit, was used for cell phone communications and GPS tracking, according to n2yo.com, a website that tracks satellites in orbit.

Residents reported a bright light over the region last week about the same time the object was likely falling into the farmer's orchard, the Press-Republic reported.