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Alien World Chemistry Found Inside Meteorite That Struck New Jersey home
Fragment of the Hillsborough meteorite, broken on impact, with fusion crust from passing at high speed through the Earth’s atmosphere.
July 15, 2026, Mountain View, CA — On July 16, 2024 a daytime meteor shook New York City with a sonic boom as it passed just south of the Statue of Liberty. Now, an international team of researchers reports in the journal Science Advances that a short time later, a more than two-pound meteorite crashed through the roof of a house in the town of Hillsborough, New Jersey.
"A forensic study of the fragments revealed that they contained preserved bits from near the surface of a small primitive asteroid where it experienced concentrated salty fluids—a process not previously known from this type of proto planet world," said lead author and meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.
Meteorite that crashed into a New Jersey home is a rare solar system fragment
A meteorite weighing more than 2 pounds (1 kilogram) that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home two years ago could shed light on ancient water in the solar system.
Observers across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania reported seeing a fireball streaking across the sky during the daytime on July 16, 2024. As the object whizzed by just south of the Statue of Liberty, it caused a sonic boom felt by New York City and New Jersey residents.
The spectacle came from a space rock, estimated to be the size of a heavy airline bag, that zipped through Earthâs atmosphere at a speed of 32,000 miles per hour (14.4 kilometers per second).
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Chemistry From Another World Found in The Famous Hillsborough Meteorite
In July 2024, residents of the New York metropolitan area were treated to a rare spectacle as a fireball exploded in the sky, rattling the region with a sonic boom.
One New Jersey homeowner got an even closer encounter – a high-speed meteorite fragment punched through her ceiling, shattered, and came to rest on her bedroom floor.
The Hillsborough meteorite, as it was later named, was a spectacular boon for science: It was recovered almost immediately, and landing in a house, had escaped rain and soil, minimizing Earth contamination – and preserving its chemistry in unusually pristine condition.
Now, scientists have found evidence that concentrated salty brines once flowed through its parent asteroid, driving complex chemistry and leaving behind unusual minerals and a rich suite of organic compounds.
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