Image: from Dexerto X @Dexerto
By Open Chronicle with agencies
June 26, 2025
On this day in 2025, a spectacular daytime fireball streaked across the skies of the southeastern United States before fragments of an ancient meteorite crashed through the roof of a home in McDonough, Georgia. Scientists later determined that the space rock had formed approximately 4.56 billion years ago, making it about 20 million years older than Earth itself.
Witnesses across Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and neighboring states reported seeing a brilliant fireball moving across the sky shortly after midday. The object entered Earth’s atmosphere at tremendous speed, producing sonic booms that rattled buildings and were heard across a wide area. Most of the meteoroid disintegrated during its descent, but several fragments survived the journey to the ground.
One fragment, roughly the size of a cherry tomato, pierced the roof of a residence in McDonough, smashed through the attic and ceiling, and struck the living room floor. Fortunately, no one inside the home was injured, although the impact caused significant damage and left the occupants stunned by the extraordinary event.
Researchers from the University of Georgia examined recovered fragments weighing a total of 23 grams. Microscopic analysis revealed that the meteorite was an ordinary chondrite formed during the earliest stages of the Solar System, approximately 4.56 billion years ago. Scientists believe it originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and was likely part of a much larger asteroid that broke apart around 470 million years ago.
The specimen was proposed for official designation as the McDonough Meteorite, after the Georgia community where it landed. It became only the twenty-seventh recovered meteorite in the state’s history and one of the very few witnessed falls ever documented there. Its recovery provides researchers with a rare opportunity to study pristine material dating back to the formation of the Solar System.
Although meteorites strike Earth every day, nearly all burn up in the atmosphere or fall into oceans and uninhabited areas. Direct impacts on homes are exceptionally rare, making the McDonough event one of the most remarkable documented meteorite falls in recent decades.