Ever found an Asteroid Piece on your Bed? ; Ruth Hamilton from British Columbia had an interesting and life-threatening experience.
Meteoroids are much smaller than asteroids, ranging in size
from a few grains to objects about one meter in diameter. The majority of
the meteoroids are comet or asteroid fragments, but some are collision
impact debris expelled from the Moon or planets like Mars.
A meteoroid, comet, or asteroid reaches the Earth's
atmosphere at a speed of more than 20 km/s, aerodynamic burning generates a
burst of light, from both the blazing object and the trail of glowing particles
that it leaves in its wake. This is known as a "shooting star." Shooting
stars are usually seen when they reach around 100 kilometers above ocean
level. Each day, an estimated 25 million meteoroids, micrometeoroids, and
other space junk enter the Earth's atmosphere, amounting to 15,000 tones of
material entering the atmosphere each year.
The fireball that erupted near the mountains of British
Columbia, Canada, a few days earlier provided a breath-taking spectacle for
everyone who witnessed it. But Ruth Hamilton, a woman from the same
neighborhood, had a different experience. Because a piece of the meteorite
that came down like a fireball from space landed on Ruth's bed.
As she slept comfortably in her own room inside the house,
Ruth was startled by a loud noise. When she turned around, she noticed a big
rock on the bed. The rock fell on the bed when the roof was destroyed. Ruth's
face was also covered with dust. Ruth was still unsure of what had happened.
Ruth, who was terrified, dialed Emergency Services as soon as she could.
Ruth's house was soon visited by police officials. They were
then investigating how such a rock could have appeared in the middle of the
night. The first assumption was that a piece of rock from the nearby gorge had
fallen when the workers blasted rocks owing to construction work that was
taking place. However, Ruth confirmed that no blasting had occurred that night,
and upon closer investigation, it was discovered that the rock had not fallen
inside the home from such a distance. It was eventually determined that a piece
of the meteorite that appeared in the sky as a fireball had fallen.
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Picture of Ruth Hamilton's bedroom & Ms. Hamilton holding the Meteoroid. Pic Credit : Ruth Hamilton. |
Ms. Hamilton rested in a chair for the rest of the night
without sleep, as the meteorite rested on her bed for the rest of the
night. Ms. Hamilton told local news media that she initially kept the
information to herself, but she subsequently contacted researchers at the
University of Western Ontario, where Peter Brown, an astronomy professor,
verified the rock was a meteorite from an asteroid.
The meteorite landed right next to Ruth's head. Ruth
explained that it was only by luck that she survived a major accident. She
added, "With the return of life to her head, her perspective on life had
shifted. Anyway, Ms. Hamilton chose to preserve the unique present she received
from space. To repair the damage to the house, the insurance company has been
contacted. According to the insurance company officials, this is the company's
first such insurance in its history.
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