Every day, numerous meteoroids or space rocks fall to Earth, but until now, no one had ever captured the direct sound of a meteorite hitting the ground. For the first time, a security camera installed at a home in Prince Edward Island, Canada, recorded the sound of a meteorite striking the Earth.
In July 2024, Laura Kelly and her companion Joe Validom returned home after walking their dog and noticed a strange mark on the ground outside their house. Upon reviewing the footage from their doorbell camera, they discovered that a piece of a space rock had fallen from the sky, struck the driveway, and disintegrated into dust upon impact.
The couple collected the 7 grams of meteorite fragments and sent them to the Department of Meteorite Sample Collection at the University of Alberta. Dr. Chris Herd, the department head, explained that this is the first time a meteorite impact has been recorded on camera, along with the sound of the impact.
The space rock fell with such speed that the camera could only capture a single frame. Dr. Herd visited the site and found a small crater in the driveway, formed by the impact. With the help of the homeowners, he collected 95 grams of material containing meteorite fragments, which is now being studied further at the university.
Experts confirmed that this meteorite was composed of the most common type of space material, consisting of fragments from rocks that survived the formation of the solar system over 4.5 billion years ago.
According to scientists, this is the first time the sound of a meteorite impact has been recorded, and it is truly spine-chilling. While the meteorite was not large enough to cause damage to the house, it could have been dangerous if it had struck a person.
