ATHENS, Ga. (WDNews) — A meteorite that tore through the roof of a Georgia home in June is older than the Earth itself, according to scientists who analyzed the fragments.
Residents across several Southern states reported seeing the fireball streak across the sky in broad daylight on June 26 before it slammed into a home outside Atlanta. The impact punched a hole through the roof and left a dent in the floor.
University of Georgia planetary geologist Scott Harris said Friday he examined 23 grams — about 0.8 ounces — of fragments from the meteorite, which was roughly the size of a cherry tomato when it struck. His analysis showed the space rock formed about 4.56 billion years ago, roughly 20 million years before the Earth.
“It belongs to a group of asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that we now think we can tie to a breakup of a much larger asteroid about 470 million years ago,” Harris said in a statement.
The University of Georgia team, along with researchers from Arizona State University, plans to submit their findings to the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. They are proposing to name the rock the McDonough Meteorite, after the city where it landed.
