Ancient Visitor from Space: Georgia Meteorite Likely Older Than Earth

A fiery streak across the daytime sky led to a rare discovery in McDonough, GA, a meteorite that predates our planet and carries clues to the solar system’s earliest days

Natalie C. Frank, Ph.C August 11, 2025

Meteorite as it steaks across the Georgia sky; Creator/YouTube Screenshot

MCDONOUGH, GA - Results from an analysis of the meteorite that bust through the Earth's atmosphere were reported by a University of Georgia scientist today.

On July 26, a fiery blast lit up the skies over Georgia, mesmerizing anyone lucky enough to look up at the right moment. The sight was no ordinary shooting star. This was a daytime fireball that was so bright it caught the attention of orbiting satellites before completing its journey to Earth in dramatic explosion

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That journey ended abruptly in McDonough, Georgia, where the meteor burst through the roof of a house and shattered the floor inside. The space tock landing just 14 feet away from a resident who had no idea a relic from deep space was about to arrive, special delivery.

Scientists at the University of Georgia quickly arrived at the scene and obtained 23 grams of the fragmented meteorite, anxious to discover the story it told. Their examination revealed something extraordinary.

UGA researcher Scott Harris explained, “This particular meteor that entered the atmosphere has a long history before it made it to the ground in McDonough, and in order to totally understand that, we actually have to examine what the rock is and determine what group of asteroids it belongs to.”

The meteor fragment, now officially named the McDonough Meteorite, was described as a Low Metal (L) ordinary chondrite, which is a type of stone created in the earliest days of the solar system, around 4.56 billion years ago. That would make it older than the Earth itself, offering a rare look into the formation of our immediate solar system.

Harris stated that the meter's origins likely go back to an enormous collision in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter around 470 million years ago. The impact from the collision sent fragments hurtling into new orbits, and sending this particular shard on a slow, meandering path toward our planet. Although its arrival seemed sudden, its the trip it took to get here lasted almost half a billion years.

Later this year, Harris intends to publish detailed findings on the makeup of the meteorite and its explosive journey through the Earth's atmosphere. In the meantime, fragments of the McDonough Meteorite will be exhibited at the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville. The public will be able to see a deep space artifact up close that came to exist long before Earth had oceans, continents, or life, and likely long before Earth itself.