Grapefruit-Sized Meteorite Smashes Through NZ Home

southerngale · #1 Postby **southerngale** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:19 am

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A grapefruit-sized meteorite smashed through the roof of a New Zealand house, hitting a couch and bouncing off the ceiling before coming to rest under a computer.
The 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) chunk of space debris dropped out of the sky and plummeted through the tiled roof of the Auckland home Saturday.

"I was in the kitchen doing breakfast and there was this almighty explosion," owner Brenda Archer told the Sunday Star-Times newspaper.

"It was like a bomb had gone off. I couldn't see anything, there was just dust."

Archer's one-year-old grandson had been playing nearby minutes before it hit.

It is only the ninth meteorite found in New Zealand and the first to hit a home.

The Archers, who are following expert advice by drying the rock out in their oven, plan to sell it or give it to a museum.

Experts believe the meteorite, a chunk of an asteroid, could be worth more than NZ$10,000 ($6,290), the newspaper said.

($1-NZ$1.59)

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/408918|top|06-13-2004::01:26|reuters.html

Josephine96 · #2 Postby **Josephine96** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:51 am

I actually thought it'd be worth more than $6,300.. shows how much I know lol :lol:

BEER980 · #3 Postby **BEER980** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 7:29 am

There seems to be a lot of them in the news lately.

#4 Postby **coriolis** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 7:49 am

That would be about enough to fix the roof.

rainstorm · #5 Postby **rainstorm** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:18 am

i think its worth much more than that. auction it on e-bay!!

#6 Postby **streetsoldier** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:55 am

Watch...Ayman al Zawahiri will claim responsibility for it. :roll:

Bane · #7 Postby **Bane** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:59 pm

Wow. Good thing no one was in the room at the time.

azsnowman · #8 Postby **azsnowman** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:02 pm

Are we SURE that it wasn't a piece of *space poop* from the International Space Station? Sorry...I know that's gross but HEY.....SH** falls from the sky ALL the time from airliners correct?

Dennis

#9 Postby **abajan** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:28 pm

I actually used to worry about this kind of stuff happening to me. I'd be thinking: "What if I'm waiting for a stop light to turn green and out of the blue a meteorite crashes through the car's roof into my head?" Silly, isn't it?

Of course I'm older and wiser now. The car's roof is now reinforced with titanium, I always wear a helmet and I drive through red lights.

Skywatch_NC · #10 Postby **Skywatch_NC** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 8:35 pm

azsnowman wrote:Are we SURE that it wasn't a piece of *space poop* from the International Space Station? Sorry...I know that's gross but HEY.....SH** falls from the sky ALL the time from airliners correct?

Dennis

You're correct, Dennis...I did read one time (think it occurred in the 1970s or so) about a fairly large size 'cake' of airliner waste landing on a house in the United States! :eek:

Eric

weatherluvr · #11 Postby **weatherluvr** » Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:21 pm

azsnowman wrote:Are we SURE that it wasn't a piece of *space poop* from the International Space Station? Sorry...I know that's gross but HEY.....SH** falls from the sky ALL the time from airliners correct?

Dennis

2.9 lbs?!? Is there an orbiting Taco Bell I didn't hear about?

TexasStooge · #12 Postby **TexasStooge** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 12:42 pm

WOW!!!

HurricaneGirl · #13 Postby **HurricaneGirl** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:20 pm

GalvestonDuck · #14 Postby **GalvestonDuck** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:30 pm

azsnowman wrote:Are we SURE that it wasn't a piece of *space poop* from the International Space Station? Sorry...I know that's gross but HEY.....SH** falls from the sky ALL the time from airliners correct?

Dennis

It happened in "Joe Dirt." (Silly movie...don't bother unless you're in the mood for sophomoric SNL humor.)

Grapefruit-Sized Meteorite Smashes Through NZ Home

Grapefruit-Sized Meteorite Smashes Through NZ Home

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