THOUSANDS of meteorites crash land on Earth every year but the vast majority of them go unnoticed.
Most either drop in remote places or burn up to little more than tiny rocks.
But on extremely rare occasions, they have very almost killed people.
One scientist actually put the likelihood of dying from a meteorite striking you at one in a 1,600,000 chance.
So, there’s no need to worry about a meteorite raining down on you anytime soon.
But there are some notable cases over the years…
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Pain in the gut
American Ann Hodges made headlines as the first ever person documented to have been struck by a meteorite and lived to tell the tale.
Back in 1954, aged 34, Mrs Hodges was having a nap on the couch before she was suddenly woken up by a loud crash.
Something had rapidly shot through the roof, struck the radio and bounced off hitting Mrs Hodges on her thigh and hand.
That object turned out to be meteorite weighing 8.5 pounds and about the size of a grapefruit.
She was left with a huge bruise – and fame that she struggled to deal with.
There was also a dispute about who the rock now belonged to after the Maxwell Air Force Base confirmed it was indeed a meteorite.
Following a lengthy legal battle with the house’s owner. a $500 settlement was finally agreed and it was decided that Mrs Hodges should keep the meteorite.
“I feel like the meteorite is mine,” she said at the time.
“I think God intended it for me. After all, it hit me!”
1888: The only death?
There’s every chance others will have been hit and possibly killed by a meteorite long before Mrs Hodges’ incident, that we’ll never known about.
But experts uncovered records that suggest one unlucky person was hit and killed by a meteorite in 1888.
After combing through ancient archives and painstakingly translating the old language, researchers believe the unfortunate event took place in Sulaymaniyah, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
They found three separate letters written by local authorities detailing what happened, giving a strong indication that it was real.
In them, they describe a “strong bright light was accompanied by smoke and traveled toward a village”.
The pillow smash
In more recent times there have been reported cases too.
One such case could have ended horribly as the meteorite found its way into someone’s bedroom.
Suzy Kop, from New Jersey, USA, was left with a sizeable hole in the roof of her home back in May 2023.
Fortunately, no one was in when the meteorite blasted through the house.
She initially thought someone had thrown the rock until closer inspection.
“I did touch the thing because it thought it was a random rock, I don’t know, and it was warm,” Kop said.
Another case in 2021 came within inches of a woman’s head as she slept.
Ruth Hamilton, from British Colombia, Canada, heard a loud bang and felt fresh air from the hole in her ceiling.
“I was shaking and scared when it happened, I thought someone had jumped in or it was a gun or something,” she said.
“It’s almost a relief when we realised it could only have fallen out of the sky.”
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here’s what you need to know, according to Nasa…
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)
