It's around 4.56 billion years old.Meteor Madness<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, a mysterious four-by-six-inch object punched through the roof of a New Jersey family's home, ricocheting around the room before making a sizeable dent in the hardwood floor.<\/p>\n
Experts have since had a chance to analyze the rock, confirming earlier suspicions that it's a meteorite, which ended its epic journey of hundreds of millions of miles a mere 40 miles from Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
According to a news release posted on Facebook, researchers from The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) determined that the 2.2-pound rock is most likely a type LL-6 chondrite, a meteorite riddled with tiny mineral spheres.<\/p>\n
That would make it around 4.56 billion years old, roughly the age of the Sun.<\/p>\n
\"We are excited to be able to confirm that the object is a true chondrite meteorite, in excellent condition, and one of a very small number of similar witnessed chondrite falls known to science,\" TCNJ physics professor Nate Magee said in the release.<\/p>\n
The researchers believe the rock originated from a larger object lurking in the solar system's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n
The small blackish rock likely went through a lot of physical changes throughout its life, with the researchers saying it'd \"been highly metamorphosed by intense heat even before entering the Earths atmosphere.\"<\/p>\n
Nathan Magee, head of the College of New Jerseys physics department, told The Washington Post that the rock's cracked edges suggest it broke off from a larger meteorite after entering the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Only around 1,000 meteorites of its kind have ever been found, and only 100 were observed falling.<\/p>\n
In other words, it's an exceedingly rare event that's generated great excitement in a small New Jersey township.<\/p>\n
\"If you would ask me, Monday morning, [the] top 100 reasons why I might get a phone call from the police, meteorite would not have been on the list,\" Shannon Graham, a geophysicist at TCNJ, told the WaPo.<\/p>\n
More on the rock: Cops Say Meteorite Appears to Have Smashed New Jersey House<\/p>\n
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Read the original here: It's around 4.56 billion years old.Meteor Madness Earlier this week, a mysterious four-by-six-inch object punched through the roof of a New Jersey family's home, ricocheting around the room before making a sizeable dent in the hardwood floor. Continue reading
\nExperts Confirm Rock That Punched Through Family's House Was ... - Futurism<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"