A metallic object that tore a hole in the roof of a house in central New Jersey. The family thought it was a simple rock, but it was something very special. What they saw was the meteorite that fell on a house.
It weighs about 1 kilogram. Scientists at the College of New Jersey determined that it is a rare stony chondrite meteorite. Its estimated age is 4.56 billion years. They came to that conclusion after performing visual examination, density measurements and scanning electron microscope imaging. Jerry Delaney is a meteorite expert at the American Museum of Natural History. He said it is probably an LL-6 type meteorite.
Hot rock
“Examining it was a rare and exciting opportunity. We are excited to be able to confirm that the object is a true chondrite meteorite. There are very similar attested chondrite falls known to science.”
The family who owned the house discovered the potato-sized black rock in a corner. It was still warm. It must have hit the house shortly before they found it. No one was hurt.
Derrick Pitts is chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute, celebrated this episode. He said the meteorite falling on a house is truly unusual. “It’s happened only a few times in history.”
Suzy Kop, whose family owns the house, said they thought someone had thrown a rock. They soon realized that wasn’t the case. “It fell from the roof of my father’s upper bedroom window,” she commented. “I touched it because I thought it was just a random rock and it was hot.”
Radioactivity
In any case, Kop commented that no one in his family was on site at the time of impact. “I thank God that my father was not here. No one was there, we are not injured or anything,” he said.
Kop said hazardous materials officials came to his home to check on him and his family. They tested to see if they were exposed to any radioactive material. But all those checks were negative.
