On Monday (May 8) at around 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT), a rock crashed through the roof of a residential home in Hopewell Township, New Jersey. No one was injured but the police are currently investigating the origin and nature of the space rock which is believed to be a meteorite.
“It appears whatever came from the sky fell through the roof of the top window — that’s my dad’s bedroom,” said Suzy Kop, according to CBS News Kerri Corrado (opens in new tab), who first reported the news early on Tuesday (May 9).
The family, which was home at the time saw that the rock had a metallic appearance and it caused a dent in the bedroom floor as it “ricocheted up” to the ceiling, creating another hole due to its high impact speed.
Eventually, it bounced back to the floor where it was discovered by Kop, one of the residents. Initially, Kop thought that someone had thrown a rock at their home. Concerned about possible residues and radioactivity, emergency responders arrived later to check on the family members and scan the home. CBS News interviewed Kop, who provided details about the incident and the subsequent response.
“They were afraid that, you know, because it fell from the sky, was it radioactive? Could we have a type of residue on us? So they scanned us and everything came back clear,” she said.
The police have just stated that the rock measures approximately 4 inches by 6 inches (10 by 15 centimeters) having an oval shape. They think that the rock could potentially be a part of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which occurred during the first week of May.
The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is an annual event caused by Earth passing through debris from Halley’s Comet. The fragments of the comet burn up in our planet’s atmosphere, creating spectacular displays. The meteor shower reached its peak just before dawn on Saturday (May 6).
Space rocks rarely strike populated areas but those that don’t completely burn up can be found on the ground. A similar incident occurred in October 2021, when a 2.9-pound (1.3 kilograms) meteorite crashed through the roof of a Canadian home and ended up on a pillow, narrowly missing the face of a sleeping resident and showering them with debris.
“A fragment hits a structure … somewhere on the order of about half a dozen times per year globally,” Peter Brown, a meteorite astronomer at Western University in Ontario, told Space.com at the time. “In North America, there’s a building hit every three to five years.”