--- title: "Experts Confirm Rock That Punched Through Family’s House Was Meteorite" description: "Researchers have confirmed that an avocado-sized rock that smashed through a New Jersey roof is a meteorite." date: "2023-05-14" modified: "2023-05-14" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/experts-confirm-rock-punched-house-meteorite" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "meteorite" - "new jersey" - "the digest" --- # Experts Confirm Rock That Punched Through Family’s House Was Meteorite ![Researchers have confirmed that an avocado-sized rock that smashed through a New Jersey roof is a meteorite.]() *\Image: Anthony DePrimo/The College of New Jersey\* ## 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. 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. 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. That would make it around 4.56 billion years old, roughly the age of the Sun. "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. ## Rock Garden State The researchers believe the rock originated from a larger object lurking in the solar system's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. 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 Earth’s atmosphere." Nathan Magee, head of the College of New Jersey’s physics department, [told *The Washington Post*]() that the rock's cracked edges suggest it broke off from a larger meteorite after entering the atmosphere. Only around 1,000 meteorites of its kind have ever been found, and only 100 were observed falling. In other words, it's an exceedingly rare event that's generated great excitement in a small New Jersey township. "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*. **More on the rock:** *[Cops Say Meteorite Appears to Have Smashed New Jersey House]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()