In an incredible and miraculous moment, a Canadian man ended up with footage and sound of a meteorite hitting Earth. According to CBC News, scientists think this is the first time the video and sound have been recorded together. The man, Joe Velaidum, revealed he was standing at the exact spot of impact a few minutes before the space rock hit the ground.
"The shocking thing for me is that I was standing right there a couple of minutes right before this impact," Velaidum told the outlet. "If I'd have seen it, I probably would've been standing right there, so it probably would've ripped me in half,” he added.
Also Read: Asteroid illuminates the night sky with dazzling flash before landing in Russia’s Yakutia. Watch
“Skeptical at first”
“My father thought it could be a meteorite and sent us a link to the University of Alberta's Meteorite Reporting System,” Joe Velaidum’s daughter, Laura Kelly, told the University of Alberta. “I'll admit, we were skeptical at first,” she added.
“We are now in awe that a piece of ancient interstellar space could travel millions of miles and land, literally, on our doorstep,” she later expressed.
{{/usCountry}}“We are now in awe that a piece of ancient interstellar space could travel millions of miles and land, literally, on our doorstep,” she later expressed.
{{/usCountry}}The video of the impact, along with the sound, was captured by Velaidum's doorbell camera.
Expert’s opinion:
The University of Alberta, upon investigation, discovered that the newly named Charlottetown Meteorite is an ordinary chondrite. However, this information was far from ordinary from a scientific point of view.
“As the first and only meteorite from the province of PEI, and possibly the Maritimes, the Charlottetown Meteorite announced its arrival in a spectacular way. No other meteorite fall has been documented like this,” Chris Herd, geologist and professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, said.
Also Read: Pitch black sky turns blue in Spain and Portugal as meteor crosses, netizens share videos
“As far as we know — it is the first time that a meteorite falling to Earth has been recorded on video, with sound. It adds a whole new dimension to the natural history of the Island,” he added.
Coincidentally, Herd had planned a family trip to Prince Edward, where the meteorite landed, 10 days after the impact. He took help from family members to document the meteorite fragments.