Meteorite That Hit Home Is Older Than Earth, Scientists Say (bbc.com) 21
The BBC reports:
A meteorite that crashed into a home in the U.S. is older than planet Earth, scientists have said...
Researchers at the University of Georgia examined a fragment of the rock that pierced the roof of a home in the city of McDonough [30 miles south of Georgia, on June 26]. They found that, based on the type of meteorite, it is expected to have formed 4.56 billion years ago, making it roughly 20 million years older than Earth... The rock quickly diminished in size and speed, but still travelled at least 1 km per second, going through a man's roof in Henry County...
Using optical and electron microscopy, Scott Harris [a Univeristy of Georgia geologist] and his team determined the rock was a chondrite — the most abundant type of stony meteorite, according to NASA — which meant that it was approximately 4.56 billion years old.
"The home's resident said he is still finding pieces of space dust around his home from the hit."
Researchers at the University of Georgia examined a fragment of the rock that pierced the roof of a home in the city of McDonough [30 miles south of Georgia, on June 26]. They found that, based on the type of meteorite, it is expected to have formed 4.56 billion years ago, making it roughly 20 million years older than Earth... The rock quickly diminished in size and speed, but still travelled at least 1 km per second, going through a man's roof in Henry County...
Using optical and electron microscopy, Scott Harris [a Univeristy of Georgia geologist] and his team determined the rock was a chondrite — the most abundant type of stony meteorite, according to NASA — which meant that it was approximately 4.56 billion years old.
"The home's resident said he is still finding pieces of space dust around his home from the hit."
Ownership (Score:2)
Any one know if it belongs to him?
Re:Ownership (Score:4, Interesting)
Sure does. Meteorites found on federal land belong to the government. A meteorite found within a crater on your kitchen floor ... winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Re:Ownership (Score:5, Interesting)
A meteorite found within a crater on your kitchen floor ... winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Well, I'm no space rock expert, but ChatGPT says that because this isn't a particularly rare or large type of meteorite, it's probably worth about $50. There's a possibility some collector might pay a bit more because it made the news, but I doubt it gets anywhere into the realm of magical retirement check from space.
And now he has a hole in his roof, ductwork, ceiling, and a dent in the floor. Unless there's some follow-up story about how he gets a big payday out of this, I'm gonna call it a case of extremely rare cosmic bad luck.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Unless there's some follow-up story about how he gets a big payday out of this
Maybe he was one of the few smart people who bought meteorite insurance?
Re: (Score:2)
Well I guess it's all in how you define "winning". :)
Not that difficult (Score:5, Funny)
When Earth is only 6,000 or so years old.
Re: (Score:2)
Mod parent Funny, though the joke I was looking for is that EVERYTHING is older than the earth. Matter is really persistent and the Big Bang happened a long time ago. It's just the packaging that sometimes changes?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
then âoeEarthâ and âoethe meteoriteâ refers to the packaging
Lots of the packaging (repackaging) is going on on the Earth to this day. At Mauna Loa within the past few years, for example.
Re: (Score:2)
Homeowners insurance payment (Score:5, Funny)
Summer clearly written by astronomer... (Score:3)
the rock that pierced the roof of a home in the city of McDonough [30 miles south of Georgia, on June 26].
For the geographers in the audience, McDonough is in Georgia. It is roughly 30 miles south of Atlanta.
Wow! (Score:5, Informative)
Most stony meteorites are chondrites, and their formation ages cluster around 4.56 to 4.57 billion years, so they predate Earth at 4.54 billion years.
Estimates of total meteorites that reach the ground at sizes you could pick up, roughly >10 g, are around 18,000 per year worldwide, and about 85 to 90 percent of those are chondrites, giving roughly 15,000 older than Earth.
Nearly all fall into oceans or remote land, which is why we only recover a few dozen each year. So the best guess is on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 per year, with a midpoint near 15,000.
So IOW, news for nerds, stuff that matters.
Not that much older... (Score:1)
A whole 20 million years...
Which is a whole 0.04% older than earth...
Spectacular!
Older than Earth? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Using your logic, my 2019 Chevy Silverado is also 4.5 billion years old since the iron in the steel was formed in the same supernova as the rest of the elements in our planet.
The meteorite was formed before our planet cooled from the leftover debris in our solar system. Since the collection could not be called "Earth" before it reformed into a planet, it is older than Earth. Just not older than much of the material incorporated in our planet. Not everything in our planet has to be older than 4.5b since i
30 miles south of Georgia? (Score:3)
So this happened in Florida?
Re: (Score:2)
McDonough is in Georgia so IDK what the article is trying to say.
Re: (Score:2)
Clearly, the meteor and the attendant wealth and fame was meant for me, but I'm not going to dwell on it.
Does Dr. Ari Loeb (Score:2)
... think it was an alien probe?
{O.o}