Meteorite older than Earth crashes into a house

On June 26th, a meteorite crashed into a house in Georgia. This meteorite was breaking up as it fell through the Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists have now discovered that this meteorite is older than Earth. Millions of meteorites hit the Earth each day, but they are mostly small and burn up before crashing. However, bigger ones like this one can actually hit the Earth, occassionally.

This “Fireball” (Especially Bright Meteor) was spotted in broad daylight, which is interesting as they are best seen at night. It also created a huge “boom” so loud that people believed it was an earthquake. This meteor even went faster than the speed of sound (around 767 mph/1,235 kph), and when that happens, it creates a “sonic boom.”

But this rather unfortunate house in McDonough, Georgia, had a way closer encounter. Several small bits of the meteorite shot through the house roof. One piece of the meteor had quite a ride as it shot through the entrance and exit of a metal tube, before reaching the ceiling as it hit the floor. It ended up landing dangerously close to the homeowner, just 14 feet (4.25 meters) away.

Scientists at the University of Georgia asked the house owner if they could come and see to learn more about the impact and about the meteorite itself. Scott Harris, a geologist at UGA, said that the meteorite that crashed into the house may had been traveling as fast as 2,237 mph (3,600 kph) when it had hit the house.

Mr. Harris was allowed to study about half of the material that was recovered. Using powerful microscopes, he determined that the meteorite was a Chondrite – which is a kind of stony meteorite made of material created around the time our Solar System formed.

Tests show that the meteorite is about 4.56 billion years old. Mr. Harris also states the rock had most likely come from a much larger asteroid that was once part of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

References: https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/space-meteorite-crashes-house-georgia-711002-20250814, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://app.letterly.io/api/letterly/documents/view?url=letterly%2Fdocuments%2Flink%2F.