An exceptional event occurred on Prince Edward Island, Canada, where a couple narrowly escaped the impact of a meteorite that fell in front of their home. The extremely rare scene was recorded by their doorbell camera, providing valuable visual and audio evidence for scientists.
A cosmic impact just a few minutes away
Joe Velaidum and his partner Laura Kelly were returning from a walk with their dogs last July when they discovered their brick driveway littered with dusty debris. Their doorbell camera recording revealed that a space rock had slammed into their property just two minutes after they left.
« What shocked me the most was that I was there a few minutes before the impact ” Joe Velaidum told CBC News. “ I probably would have been torn in two. »
Although the couple immediately cleaned their driveway, they managed to recover 7 grams of fragments meteorite on a nearby patch of grass and Extra 88 grams using a vacuum cleaner and magnet. These samples, along with video of the impact, were submitted to the University of Alberta for analysis.
A major scientific discovery
The university team, led by geologist Chris Herd, confirmed that it was a stony chondritean ordinary meteorite from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. “ She would have traveled at least 200 km/h just before hittingr,” Chris Herd told CTV News.
-On January 13, the event was officially recognized by the Meteoritical Society, which named the celestial object “Charlottetown meteorite”, in homage to the Canadian city where it crashed. Chris Herd also highlighted the importance of this discovery: “ This is the first time we have been able to record the fall of a meteorite in both video and audio. »
A rare cosmic phenomenon
Every year, small space rocks enter Earth's atmosphere. Most disintegrate before reaching the ground or fall into uninhabited areas, making direct observations extremely rare. Witnessing an impact, let alone narrowly escaping it, is almost a miracle.
For Joe Velaidum, this event offered a cosmic perspective. “We think our lives are so important when we fill them with our ego, and there are these cosmic events that overshadow our petty concerns “, he told NPR.
This impact, although minor on a cosmic scale, highlights the interconnectedness between humanity and the universe, reminding us that extraordinary events can occur at any time, even in front of one's own home.
