Meteorite 20 million years older than Earth falls on house in US

A meteorite that fell in the state of 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 light and a loud bang were recorded across the southeastern United States. A few minutes later, an object from space crashed through the roof, ceiling, ventilation ducts and left a dent in the living room floor of a house in McDonough, Georgia. The object was identified as a meteorite.

According to NASA, the meteoroid, upon entering the atmosphere, had a diameter of approximately 1 meter and was traveling at a speed of 47,000 km/h. Many witnesses reported clearly feeling the shock wave, with some even mistaking it for an earthquake.

University of Georgia geologist Scott Harris 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, which broke apart about 470 million years ago. From there, some smaller fragments drifted into orbits intersecting with Earth and, after hundreds of millions of years, fell to McDonough.

"Upon impact with the atmosphere, most meteorites are significantly decelerated, but at twice the size of a .50 caliber bullet and traveling at least 1 km/s, it was still powerful enough to cause 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 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.

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