Possible Meteorite Crashes Through Roof of New Jersey Home

A metallic oblong-shaped rock may have made its way from space all the way to the surface of Earth, traveling hundreds of millions of miles only to land in New Jersey.

The object fell through the roof of a home in Hopewell Township, New Jersey on Monday just after 1:00 p.m. ET, CNBC first reported. Although it remains unidentified, it’s suspected that the small rock may in fact be a meteorite that formed billions of years ago.

“We are thinking it’s a meteorite, came through here, hit the floor here because that’s completely damaged, it ricocheted up to this part of the ceiling and then finally rested on the floor there,” Suzy Kop, the daughter of the family that owns the house, told CNBC. The residents were not home at the time, and there were no reported injuries.

The object is about 4 by 6 inches and appears metallic, the Hopewell Township Police Department reported. The local police department has called on other agencies to help in identifying the metallic rock “and safeguarding the residents and the object.”

Investigations are still ongoing regarding the origin of the flying object, but authorities suspect that it could be related to the ongoing Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which is active between April 15 and May 27. The meteor shower originates from Halley’s comet, named after English astronomer Edmond Halley who plotted its orbit in the 17th century.

Many meteorites are the remnants of cometary debris that reach Earth’s surface, a portion of which originate from significantly larger meteoroids that break up into smaller pieces when traveling through Earth’s atmosphere.

Thousand of meteorites fall to the surface of Earth each year, but rarely do they ever fall inside people’s homes, which makes the latest incident a cosmic treat—especially knowing no one was hurt. 

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