2004: The Ellerslie Meteorite
June 12, 2024
By AHNZ
20 Years ago. Today in history, 12 June, 2004, a hot meteorite fell to earth in New Zealand. It shot right through someone’s roof in Ellerslie, Auckland. This was the home of the Archer family, Mrs Archer (image, left) holds the space rock.
Having shot through the roof and ceiling, it bounced off the couch then reversed direction for another go at the family’s ceiling! What remained of the meteor was 1.3kg of rock that had previously been at home in our solar system’s Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Juipiter. After traveling several hundred million kilometers it came to rest under the Archer’s TV set.
“It is the 9th meteorite found in NZ and the first to trampoline off a couch. Named the Auckland meteorite, the space rock was bought for $NZ40,000 ($A35,500) by the Auckland War Memorial Museum.” – NZH&H
The Archers have since moved house and sold much of their damaged property along with the rock itself. Fair enough too that the rock would compensate them for their troubles.
Government does far more damage to Kiwis without any quid pro quo like that. Given the option I’d rather take my chances with a rogue asteroid than a politician who comes to the house to “help.”
Like Comment Share
