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A meteorite that recently tore through the roof of a Georgia home was discovered to be approximately 4.56 billion years-old by scientists. That would make the space rock about 20 million years older than planet Earth.
The fiery meteorite, which could be seen by people in Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee, blasted towards Earth faster than the speed of sound and caused a sonic boom. When it hit the home in Georgia, it ripped through the roof, an air duct, insulation, and the ceiling before lodging in a floor in the home, leaving a crater.
“When they encounter Earth, our atmosphere is very good at slowing them down,” said Scott Harris, a researcher in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ department of geology. “But you’re talking about something that is double the size of a 50-caliber shell, going at least 1 kilometer per second. That’s like running 10 football fields in one second.”
Where did it come from?
The meteorite, according to University of Georgia and and Arizona State University scientists, is believed to have come from a collision in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that occurred about 470 million years ago.
“This particular meteor that entered the atmosphere has a long history before it made it to the ground of McDonough, and in order to totally understand that, we actually have to examine what the rock is and determine what group of asteroids it belongs to,” said Harris.
What can we learn from it?
This particular meteorite didn’t pose a significant threat because of its size, but it was still dangerous.
“I suspect that [the homeowner] heard three simultaneous things. One was the collision with his roof, one was a tiny cone of a sonic boom and a third was it impacting the floor all in the same moment,” Harris said. “There was enough energy when it hit the floor that it pulverized part of the material down to literal dust fragments.”
It can also help scientists better prepare for when a larger space rock might be headed towards Earth. Harris says analysis of the meteorite is important for understanding the possible threat of much larger and more dangerous asteroids.
“One day there will be an opportunity, and we never know when it’s going to be, for something large to hit and create a catastrophic situation. If we can guard against that, we want to,” he said.