For the first time in history: Home camera recorded the sound of a meteorite impact

Upon returning from a walk, Joe Velaidum, a resident of Marshfield, Canada, discovered strange debris in his driveway and lawn. After checking the footage from his security camera, he was surprised to find that a meteorite had fallen on his front porch. 

The incident took place in July 2024. After studying the collected fragments, scientists from the University of Alberta confirmed that it was indeed a meteorite. According to them, this is the first time in history when both the meteorite fall itself and its sound were recorded on camera. 

The site of the meteorite impact. Source: Laura Kelly

“The shocking thing for me is that I was standing right there a couple of minutes right before this impact,” Velaidum told CBC News. “If I’d have seen it, I probably would’ve been standing right there, so it probably would’ve ripped me in half.” 

In total, about 95 grams of fragments were collected from the impact site. The analysis showed that the fallen body was a common chondrite: the most common type of space rock falling on our planet. They contain spherical or elliptical formations of predominantly silicate composition. Their source is believed to be debris from the breakup of several Main Belt asteroids that have occurred over the past 40 million years.

Chris Herd, curator of the University of Alberta’s meteorite collection, holds a sample of the meteorite that crashed into the driveway in front of Velaidum’s home. Source: Travis McEwan/CBC

Celestial bodies usually enter the atmosphere at about 60,000 km/h and then slow down to their terminal velocity. By the time of impact, the speed of the rock that fell near Velaidum’s house was probably at least 200 km/h. So it really posed a threat to its owner.

According to CBC News

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