A distinct bang that resembles glass breaking or ice fracturing has been recorded, likely creating the world’s first audio capture of a meteorite impact. This event was fortuitously captured by a doorbell camera, documented last July close to the front entrance of a residence in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.
Homeowner Joe Velaidum had returned from a stroll when he spotted the chalky imprint of what we now recognize as a meteorite strike on his front pathway. “The astonishing part for me is that I was right there just moments before this impact,” Velaidum mentioned to CBC News.
The curator of the meteorite collection at the University of Alberta, Chris Herd, who luckily had a holiday on the island already planned, received a call to examine the phenomenon. “It’s not anything we’ve ever encountered before,” Herd informed CBC News in the same report. “From a scientific viewpoint, it’s unprecedented.”
Approximately 95 grams of meteorite fragments were collected from the site, and Herd obtained around seven grams of samples to analyze back at the university. The examination indicated that the specimens were ordinary chondrites, the most frequently found type of stony meteorite on Earth, comprising around 86 percent of all recovered space rocks.
Upon entering our atmosphere, Herd explained to CBC News, the meteorite descended at its terminal velocity — roughly equivalent to the speed of a stone dropped from an aircraft, before landing in the small village of Marshfield. The designated name for this meteorite is the Charlottetown Meteorite, named after the island’s capital city, situated just east of Marshfield.
“This is, in fact, the first and only meteorite ever discovered on the Island, and what a remarkable way to make this find,” Herd remarked.
“Whenever this occurs, it’s a new specimen from outer space. It originates from the asteroid belt […] situated between Mars and Jupiter, so it’s travelled quite a distance.”