A Four-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Strikes Georgia
A rare and extraordinary event occurred on June 26 when a meteorite, estimated to be 4.56 billion years old, streaked across the skies of Georgia before crashing into a home. The rock, which had been traveling faster than the speed of sound, left a visible mark on the property, punching a hole through the roof and creating a small crater in the floor. Newly released video captures the dramatic moment as the meteorite burned through the atmosphere, illuminating the sky with its fiery trail.
The meteorite is believed to have originated from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. According to Scott Harris, a planetary geologist at the University of Georgia, the object belongs to a group of asteroids that can be traced back to the breakup of a larger asteroid approximately 470 million years ago. Harris examined 23 grams of fragments recovered from the meteorite, which was about the size of a cherry tomato. He described how the meteorite struck a homeowner’s roof like a bullet, leaving a noticeable dent in the floor of the house located in McDonough, outside Atlanta.
Harris explained the meteorite’s path: it passed through the roof, an air duct, and several feet of insulation before hitting the ceiling. The impact created a 10-foot-high slanted ceiling space, and the meteorite continued its descent, ultimately leaving a crater of about one and a half centimeters in the floor. “It hit hard enough that part of it was pulverized like someone hitting it with a sledgehammer,” he said.
The meteorite’s age makes it one of the oldest objects in the solar system, dating back to the time when the planets were forming. “These are objects that go back to the original material formed 4.56 billion years ago,” Harris noted. “They are the basic building blocks of our rocky planets, and that’s one of the reasons scientists are interested in studying them. It helps us understand the processes active during the early days of the solar system.”
Scientists from the University of Georgia and Arizona State University plan to submit their findings to the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. They propose naming the meteorite the “McDonough Meteorite” after the city where it landed. While such events are relatively common, Harris emphasized the importance of understanding the origins of these materials and their movement within the solar system. “No one has to do anything about a small object like this coming through the atmosphere, but understanding where these materials come from is crucial for assessing potential risks in the future.”
The meteorite’s arrival caused quite a stir. On the day it fell, police scanner audio captured a call from a woman in Spartanburg, South Carolina, reporting a “giant ball of fire” falling from the sky. A firefighter in East Tennessee shared on social media: “I just saw a huge ball of fire fall from the sky in the Cherokee National Forest!” Others speculated it might have been a falling aircraft, but the description of a “mini sun with a tail of fire” suggested otherwise.
In Georgia, some residents not only saw the meteorite but also heard it pass overhead and felt the ground shake upon impact. One local described the experience: “Stone Mountain here and it made a booming sound, house shook with a long rumble. Dogs went crazy.” Another resident wrote: “House totally rumbled, sounded like a log rolling off the roof, thought nukes were coming…”
Hundreds of reports of the fireball were submitted to the American Meteor Society website from Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. One report from Perry, Georgia, stated, “This was the middle of the day, and it just came out of nowhere.” Another observer mentioned seeing a “smoke trail that quickly fell apart.”
The event highlights the unpredictable nature of space debris and the importance of continued scientific research into these phenomena. As Harris pointed out, even small objects can provide valuable insights into the dynamics of the solar system and help us better prepare for larger, potentially hazardous impacts in the future.