Cosmic Visitor: 4.56-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite Strikes into Georgia Home

On June 26, 2025, a dazzling daytime fireball streaked over Georgia, captured by satellites and witnessed across multiple states. A surviving fragment smashed through the roof of a McDonough home, denting the wooden floor 14 feet below. Scientists at the University of Georgia analyzed about 23 grams of this ancient rock, determining it to be a 4.56-billion-year-old L-type ordinary chondrite — older than Earth by nearly 20 million years. Likely originating from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, it may have been dislodged by a colossal collision 470 million years ago. Dubbed the McDonough Meteorite, it offers rare clues to the early solar system’s history and asteroid risks.