ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Dozens of people captured the meteor falling from the sky on their cellphones last week. On Monday, Atlanta News First got a look at it up close in the Tellus Science Museum.
A sonic boom, the equivalent of 20 tons of TNT, shook metro Atlanta last Thursday.
What looked like a fireball in the sky hit the Earth as an estimated three-foot meteorite split into multiple fragments.
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Karisa Zdanky, astronomy program manager at Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, now a piece of it at the museum.
”First of all, I thought, ‘Wow, that is really cool,’“ she said. ”The fact that I’m now holding it is just like, ‘Oh, okay.’”
The fragment was found by a meteorite hunter who got in touch with the museum through the Meteorite Association of Georgia, and now they’re adding what created such a stir into their collection.
“While meteors themselves are not uncommon, one that is during the day, that is so big that so many people are able to see it is a lot rarer,” said Zdanky.
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Zdanky said this is the 29th sizable meteorite that has fallen in Georgia. The museum houses fragments of most of them.
Rebecca Melsheimer, curatorial coordinator, said this particular meteorite is what is known as a “stony meteorite,” a type that is billions of years old.
“It is the material that is from the very beginning of the solar system, so if we study these, we can learn about what the environment was like, and how they were forming and how the planets were formed,” she said.
Melsheimer said these meteorite hunters are still out finding pieces of what fell to the Earth.
As for the piece now in the museum’s possession, the work began immediately.
“When we bring it in, we actually did a condition report. Writing everything down and then we’re gonna catalog it when it’s brought in and then we’re actually going to put it on display,” she said.
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Just having this piece can tell them so much.
“There’s so much that’s out there in the world and outside of the world that we can learn and experience and while that’s kind of the dramatic thing, you know, you see it and it’s bright and it’s beautiful. But the information that we can get from this scientifically is even more beautiful,” Melsheimer said.
Melsheimer said knowing people who watched this streak across the sky will have a chance to see it here at the museum is a very cool feeling.
“It’s really exciting for us to see something like this. Like this was in space on Thursday morning and now it’s here and I can hold it in my hand, it’s just amazing,” Melsheimer said.
Melsheimer said they plan to have the meteorite on display by the end of the summer for people to come see for themselves.
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