On July 19, 2026, a meteorite shook New York City: Ferrán Torres’ goal in the 106th minute, against the Argentina team. Well, okay, it wasn’t a meteorite, although for many, the emotional shock wave was comparable to the physical shock wave left in its wake by the meteorite that did shake the city of the Statue of Liberty two years earlier, on July 16, 2024. That asteroid fragment broke up 35 kilometers away, releasing a multitude of debris that fell unseen in various parts of the state of New Jersey. One of them, weighing almost 1 kg, went through the roof of a house in the town of Hillsborough.
Two years later, an international team of scientists has published the analysis of the composition of the New York meteorite. It is a very rare type of meteorite, known as a CM ½ carbonaceous chondrite and is characterized, among other things, because it can provide a window into the history of the origin of life on Earth.
A very rare type of meteorite. The meteorite is a carbonaceous chondrite. That is, a fragment of a primitive objectrich in carbon, which can be associated with different organic molecules. Generally, these meteorites are classified according to their degree of aqueous alteration. The lower the number, the more water has altered its structure in the original object from which it came. The carbonaceous chondrites that have fallen most abundantly on Earth in the form of meteorites are those of type CM 2. 20 have been documented. Of type CM 1, none are known.
However, there is an iconocidal range such as CM ½, which is in the middle and had been previously found, in a meteorite that fell in 2020 in Indonesia. The Hillsborough meteorite, therefore, has been the second, but also the best preserved, thanks to the quick intervention of the owner of the house in which it fell.
A hole in the roof and the smell of sulfur. The Hillsborough meteorite is actually one of many fragments left after a larger rock broke apart 35 kilometers up. He fell with such force that he managed to break through the ceiling, landing in the main bedroom of the house. Its owner stated that, upon entering his room, he saw a hole in the ceiling and he smelled a strong smell of sulfur. He then found his bed and carpet covered in debris and black dust.
He decided to put on some gloves and store all the debris in glass jars with aluminum foil. Thanks to their quick and scrupulous action, the scientists were able to analyze the meteorite as intact as possible.
Following the path of the Hillsborough meteorite. Before falling in Hillsborough, the meteorite crossed the skies of New York and other cities in the United States. 60 observersspread across the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, reported seeing them to the American Meteor Society. Additionally, 16 others in New York and New Jersey said they felt the shock wave. Taking into account all these testimonies, plus the detections from astronomical observatories, it was possible to follow its trajectory to the lower asteroid belt.
Ingredients for life. We have already seen that this was a CM ½ emteorite. However, a more detailed analysis of the meteorite allowed us to find some fragments of CM1 rich in salts inside. This indicates that it was formed in some area of the surface of the parent asteroid where liquid water evaporated and salts were concentrated. It is known that the high concentration of salt in saline fluids can create molecules crucial for life on Earth. In fact, many studies suggest that, in the past, CM carbonaceous chondrites delivered to Earth some of the ingredients that gave rise to life.
That’s why the Hillsborough meteorite is so interesting. At the moment, it has been seen to have 1.8% by weight of carbon and 0.07% of nitrogen, in addition to carbon and nitrogen isotopes typical of CM type meteorites. A more detailed analysis of the latter will help understand the extent to which these objects helped life proliferate on our planet. The owner of the house was not aware when he saw that hole in the roof that it not only had a huge leak. I was also looking at a window to the past.
Image| SETI
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