Meteorite 20 million years older than Earth hits house in US

A meteorite that fell in Georgia, USA, was determined to be 4.56 billion years old, about 20 million years older than Earth.

Meteorite fragments found in the living room of a Georgia resident - Photo: University of Georgia

The unusual event occurred one evening last June. A bright flash of light and a loud bang were recorded across the southeastern United States. Minutes later, an object from space crashed through the roof, ceiling, ventilation ducts, and left a dent in the living room floor of a home in McDonough, Georgia. The object was identified as a meteorite.

According to NASA, the meteorite was about 1 meter in diameter when it entered the atmosphere, traveling at a speed of 47,000 km/h. Many witnesses said they clearly felt the shock wave, some even thought it was an earthquake.

Geologist Scott Harris (University of Georgia) collected and analyzed 23 grams of debris from the house. Recently published results show that it is a metal-poor chondrite meteorite that formed before the Earth existed.

Harris said the meteorite originated from a large asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that broke apart about 470 million years ago. From there, some small pieces drifted into an orbit that intersected Earth, and it took hundreds of millions of years for it to fall to McDonough.

"When it hits the atmosphere, most meteors slow down dramatically, but at twice the size of a 50-caliber bullet and traveling at least 1km/s, it's still capable of causing serious damage," Harris explained.

The impact crushed the meteorite into hundreds of tiny pieces, scattering cosmic dust throughout the room, which the homeowner still finds today. Some pieces will continue to be studied at the University of Georgia, while others will be displayed at the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville.

According to statistics, this is only the 27th meteorite recorded in the state of Georgia, and only the 6th case witnessed by people. However, thanks to modern technology and public observation, the number of meteorite discoveries is increasing, something that used to only happen once every few decades.

Back to topic

MINH HAI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thien-thach-gia-hon-trai-dat-20-trieu-nam-roi-trung-nha-dan-o-my-20250812100949225.htm