The sound that made history: Meteorite fall captured on video

Video of a meteorite landing in P.E.I. made history and some of its fragments are in a U of A collection. CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk reports.

The University of Alberta’s (U of A) meteorite collection has increased in size by several hundred fragments, which recently made history.

The fragments surprised homeowners in Charlottetown, P.E.I, one day in July when they returned from walking their dogs.

“We noticed the walkway was just completely covered with black debris, rock, sand, and we had no idea what it was, so we started cleaning it up.”

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A nearby neighbour, who heard a loud crashing sound while they were away, told them he thought it was a meteorite.

They didn’t believe him initially, but when they checked their security camera footage, they saw a rock falling from the sky and shattering on their walkway.

“We noticed that I stopped at a certain spot and then about two minutes later, there was this massive crash that landed exactly where I had stopped,” Velaidum said. “It was two minutes away from killing me, absolutely. It landed right between my legs, where I was standing.”

They reached out to the U of A to find out what they had and collected the fragments by hand, vacuum and magnet.

Chris Herd, the curator of the U of A’s meteorite collection, examined the rocks and confirmed that it was a meteorite that was caught on camera.

“I didn’t know what to expect, even when I saw the video the first time,” Herd said.

“I get lots of inquiries about rocks that people think are meteorites and they’re not 99.9 per cent of the time.”

The Charlottetown meteorite, as this one is now called, was determined to be a chondrite meteorite.

What is chondrite?

Chondrite is the most common type of meteorite, making up more than 85 per cent of the ones that fall to Earth, according to Britannica.

They originate in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and make their way to Earth through collisions and gravitational disturbances.

Chondrites are believed to have formed around 4.56 billion years ago as molten droplets at high temperatures. They are made up of silicates, metal and sulfide.

“As the first and only meteorite from the province of P.E.I., the Charlottetown meteorite sure announced its arrival in a spectacular way,” Herd said. “No other meteorite fall has been documented like this, complete with sound.

“It adds a whole new dimension to the natural history of the island.”

The sound of the impact was described as similar to glass or ice breaking, along with the crunching of dry leaves.

Herd, who was already planning to be in P.E.I. less than two weeks after the meteorite fell, was able to examine the site and found a 2x2-cm divot in the walkway formed by the impact. He also recovered more fragments to bring back to the U of A.

The reason behind the meteorite breaking apart is also something Herd wanted to study, as other specimens have remained whole after impact.

“A few years ago in Golden, B.C., there was (a) meteorite much larger (that) punched through the roof of the house and landed on the pillow next to the woman who was sleeping. That didn’t break apart,” Herd said.

“What we can tell from study of this meteorite is that it seemed to have fractures in it … probably from events, collisions out there in the asteroid belt before it entered the Earth’s atmosphere, long before it came to Earth.”

Herd estimates the meteorite might have been around the size of a kiwi when it impacted.

Most meteorites tend to fall at similar velocities to a rock dropped from an airplane once in the atmosphere, falling at around 200 km/h, he added.

The U of A meteorite collection contains more than 1,800 specimens and is the largest university-based collection in Canada.

Most meteorites fall over the ocean or end up in hard-to-reach places, making them rare and potentially valuable finds.

“You can basically get about $10 per gram, if not more, depending upon the rarity of meteor … it’s almost like a fine jewel here on the earth,” Frank Florian, the senior manager of planetarium and space sciences at the Telus World of Science told CTV News Edmonton in November.

Researchers also like to acquire them, because meteors can tell them information about the early history of the solar system.

Around 95 grams of the Charlottetown meteorite was recovered.

“It’s surreal to think about just how rare and how close an encounter this was for me,” Velaidum said. “It’s mind blowing to think that a hunk of rock traveled hundreds of millions of miles, it entered the atmosphere of a smallish size planet that we call Earth, it targets this wee, tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean … then my front doorstep.”

“It has changed me,” he added. “You need to be reminded that the lives that we lead are just a small part of this celestial drama that’s so much bigger than we can possibly imagine.”

If you see a meteorite in the sky, you can report it to the U of A Meteorite Reporting System.

The International Meteor Organization also logs sightings from all over the world.

The Quadrantids meteor shower is currently in Earth’s vicinity and will be until Jan. 16.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s David Ewasuk and CTV National News' Sarah plowman