\n The spectacle came from a space rock, estimated to be the size of a heavy airline bag, that zipped through Earth\u2019s atmosphere at a speed of 32,000 miles per hour (14.4 kilometers per second).\n <\/p>\n
\n Unlike some meteorites, this space rock was particularly fragile, and it broke apart about 22 miles (35.4 kilometers) aboveground. Newark Liberty International Airport\u2019s Doppler weather radar detected a cloud of fragments falling to the ground from Staten Island into New Jersey.\n <\/p>\n
\n Only one fragment was recovered, and that\u2019s because it punched through the ceiling of a master bedroom in a Hillsborough, New Jersey, home.\n <\/p>\n
\n The impact caused no injuries, and the homeowners quickly put on disposable gloves and collected the black fragments and dust from the bed and carpet using aluminum foil and glass jars, said Peter Jenniskens, senior research scientist at the SETI Institute and NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley.\n <\/p>\n
\n Jenniskens is the lead author of a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances<\/a> that detailed an analysis of the Hillsborough meteorite.\n <\/p>\n \n The homeowners also patched the roof of their house before rain fell that evening \u2014 a crucial step because the fragile meteor is porous and sucks in water from the air, Jenniskens said.\n <\/p>\n \n Such quick thinking prevented the meteorite from being overly contaminated. Scientists were able to study the object. The analysis revealed it to be a rare, primitive type of meteorite that provides a window into the early solar system.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe detected a complex suite of amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of proteins, in water extracts of the Hillsborough meteorite,\u201d said study coauthor Dr. Danny Glavin, senior scientist for the Sample Return in the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMost of the amino acids detected in Hillsborough are rare or nonexistent in life on Earth, so they are truly extraterrestrial in origin.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A detailed analysis of the Hillsborough meteorite showed it was a CM-type carbonaceous chondrite. The C stands for carbonaceous, while the M signifies the Mighei meteorite, a carbonaceous chondrite that fell in Ukraine in 1889.\n <\/p>\n \n These space rocks are remnants of rocky bodies that were streaking around during the early days of the solar system and contain hydrated minerals and organic compounds.\n <\/p>\n \n There are two types of primitive CM meteorites \u2014 CM1 and CM2 \u2014 and the biggest difference between them is how much water altered their composition while they were attached to a larger asteroid.\n <\/p>\n \n The researchers classified the Hillsborough meteorite as a CM\u00bd since it exists as an intermediate between the two types. The sample marks only the second time a CM\u00bd meteorite has been witnessed falling to Earth, Jenniskens noted, but it\u2019s the first one that researchers have been able to study in such a pristine sample. Similar meteorites that fell in Indonesia in 2020 dropped into the mud, Jenniskens said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt is the first CM type meteorite that contained bits of rock that preserved the subsurface of the original asteroid,\u201d Jenniskens said via email. \u201cWe really have a unique window here on the physical properties of the parent asteroid.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The Hillsborough meteorite may have once belonged to a larger space rock orbiting within the inner asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cSome time ago, a significant asteroid family was formed in a large collision and some 6 Myr ago a smaller collision destroyed one of these asteroids, from which a piece ended up in near-Earth orbit,\u201d Jenniskens wrote. \u201cThat piece experienced heat\/cold cycles from spinning in the sunlight and fragmented about 200,000 years ago. Then it still took that long to hit the small target of Earth.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Researchers detected high abundances of sodium, likely from icy brines within the original asteroid. As water evaporated on the space rock, it left behind concentrated salt minerals that could create molecules crucial for life as we know it, according to the researchers.\n <\/p>\n \n The team also detected organic carbon and complex amino acids.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere are hundreds of amino acids in this meteorite and the majority of them do not occur naturally on Earth,\u201d Glavin wrote in an email. \u201cThe suite of amino acids in Hillsborough was even more diverse than those found in pristine samples returned from the carbon-rich asteroids Bennu<\/a> and Ryugu.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The researchers are working to identify the salt minerals within the Hillsborough meteorite and see how they compare with those identified in samples collected from Bennu and Ryugu during NASA\u2019s OSIRIS-REx mission<\/a> in 2020 and Japan\u2019s Hayabusa2 mission<\/a> in 2019, respectively.\n <\/p>\n \n Fragments of the Hillsborough meteorite are being curated at the American Museum for Natural History in New York City.\n <\/p>\n \n Primitive carbonaceous chondrites are believed to be the type of space rocks that collided with early Earth and delivered organic matter.\n <\/p>\n \n The Hillsborough meteorite \u201cprovides more evidence that meteorite delivery of organic matter to the early Earth could have been an important source of organic molecules necessary for the origin of life,\u201d Glavin said.\n <\/p>\n \n The discovery of brine on the asteroid is key, said Peter Brown, professor in the department of physics and astronomy at Western University in London, Ontario, noting it\u2019s kind of a leftover \u201cof percolating water or ice.\u201d Brown was not involved in the study.\n <\/p>\n \n The brine \u201cis a really strong sort of indicator of how water has moved, evolved and in particular how it\u2019s reacted with organics,\u201d Brown told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEverything we can learn about how water changes this kind of primitive meteorite is super important to sort of astrobiology and early biology on Earth.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Water may have been preserved beneath the surface of the Hillsborough meteorite\u2019s parent asteroid for an extended period, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Meteorites such as the Hillsborough one contain the chemistry of the early solar system because, while modified by water, they haven\u2019t endured much heating, Brown said. Holding a meteorite like it feels more like soil or clay that falls apart, rather than a solid rock, which reflects its lack of exposure to heat \u2014 and a higher chance of preserving a snapshot of how water interacted with minerals and organics, he added.\n <\/p>\n \n The swift, informed actions of the homeowners enabled the detection of the brine in the first place, Brown noted. Rainfall likely caused any additional meteorite fragments that fell outside to disintegrate.\n <\/p>\n \n The homeowners quickly connected with study coauthor Mike Hankey at the American Meteor Society, who guided them through preserving the sample and minimizing contamination.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe knew almost immediately that what happened to us was incredibly rare and we felt a responsibility to preserve the meteorite for the scientific community,\u201d the homeowners, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their privacy, shared via email. \u201cIt\u2019s still surreal to think that this meteorite traveled through space for millions of years before ending its journey in our home. The entire experience has been incredible, and we\u2019re honored to have played a small part in advancing scientific understanding through its study.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Reporting doorbell or dashcam videos of potential fireball sightings<\/a> can help researchers track and collect meteorites \u2013 and ultimately improve their understanding of how the solar system evolved.\n <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c-fragment.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samples](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c-qc-1.jpg\")
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