A meteorite that tore through the roof of a Georgia home in June has been found to be older than the Earth itself, according to scientists.
On June 26, people across several Southern states reported seeing a bright fireball streak across the sky in broad daylight. The object, moving faster than the speed of sound, struck a house near Atlanta, punching a hole in the roof and leaving a dent in the floor.
Scott Harris, a planetary geologist at the University of Georgia, examined 23 grams of fragments from the space rock, which was about the size of a cherry tomato when it hit. In a press release on Friday, Harris said microscopic analysis showed the meteorite is 4.56 billion years old — roughly 20 million years older than Earth itself.
According to Harris, the meteorite comes from a group of asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists believe it can be linked to the breakup of a much larger asteroid around 470 million years ago.
“This rock has been traveling through space for billions of years before finally making its way here,” Harris explained.
Researchers from the University of Georgia and Arizona State University now plan to submit their findings to the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. They have proposed naming it the McDonough Meteorite, after the Georgia city where it landed.
The rare find offers scientists a unique opportunity to study materials from the early solar system, potentially shedding light on how planets — including Earth — were formed. Harris noted that such meteorites are not only valuable for research but also serve as a reminder of the vast history written in the skies above.
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