"A Fireball Falls from the Sky"... Meteorite Found to Be Older Than Earth

Estimated to Have Formed 4.56 Billion Years Ago
About 20 Million Years Older Than Earth

A meteorite that fell on a house in Georgia, USA in June has been found to be older than Earth itself.

On August 11 (local time), British newspaper The Guardian and other foreign media reported that this meteorite is estimated to have formed 4.56 billion years ago.

This meteorite fell on a house in McDonough, Henry County, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, at around 12:25 PM on June 26. At the time, a fiery trail was seen crossing the sky, resulting in hundreds of reports from Georgia as well as South Carolina and Tennessee. In video footage capturing the meteorite's fall, a large fireball can be seen traveling at a speed of over 1 km per second before exploding in midair. The remaining fragments pierced the house's roof, ceiling, and floor, even damaging the concrete. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

Meteorite fall scene witnessed around 12:25 PM local time on June 26 in McDonough, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Screenshot from social media (SNS).

This meteorite, about the size of a cherry tomato, weighs approximately 23 grams. A research team from the University of Georgia, which began investigating the meteorite, revealed that it is a stony meteorite known as a "chondrite" and was formed about 4.56 billion years ago, making it over 20 million years older than Earth. The team also estimates that the meteorite originated as a fragment from a celestial body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and was created by an asteroid collision about 470 million years ago. The researchers are currently undergoing the official naming process to designate the meteorite as the "McDonough meteorite," after the location where it fell.

Professor Scott Harris of the University of Georgia is holding a meteorite fragment in his hand. University of Georgia website

Scott Harris, a geologist at the University of Georgia who led the investigation, stated, "This meteorite came from the asteroid belt and carries the long history of the solar system," adding, "There is still cosmic dust remaining in the living room of the house where the meteorite fell." He further explained, "In the past, such meteorite sightings occurred only once every few decades, but today, thanks to modern technology and active citizen reports, we are able to recover them more frequently than before." This meteorite is the 27th to be recovered in Georgia's history and the 6th case where the fall was actually witnessed.

A meteorite is a rock that originates from outside Earth, passes through the atmosphere, and reaches the surface. While most meteors (shooting stars) burn up due to atmospheric friction, some fragments survive and fall to the ground, becoming meteorites.