A meteorite crash captured on a doorbell camera in Canada narrowly missed a couple, striking just outside their home moments after they left for a walk.
The incident, which occurred last July, saw the rock land with a loud explosion, sending a cloud of grey dust into the air.
Joe Velaidum and his wife, Laura Kelly, returned home after walking their dogs and noticed the sidewalk covered in debris shaped like a star. They reviewed the footage from their doorbell camera, revealing the meteorite's impact.
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Joe reflected on the close call, saying, "I never stop on that spot - ever, and looking back on it now, we noticed, because of the video, if I had stayed on that very spot for just two minutes longer, I absolutely would have been struck and probably killed by this meteor."
The meteorite, later confirmed to be from space, was named "Charlottetown" after the Canadian city in Prince Edward Island where it struck. It was included in the Meteoritical Society's database, and experts were amazed by the rare video footage, which includes sound.
Chris Herd, a professor at the University of Alberta, said, "To the best of my knowledge, it's the first time that a meteorite hitting the surface of the Earth has been recorded on video with sound."
While 69 meteorites have been discovered and registered across Canada, the Charlottetown meteorite is special due to the video footage that accompanied it. Although meteorite strikes have been captured on camera before, this instance stands out because it was filmed at close range and included sound.
Meteorites, which burn up upon entering Earth's atmosphere or land in remote areas, rarely make an impact in populated places. Only a few people have witnessed one firsthand, making this footage particularly significant. According to NASA, about 43 tonnes of meteorite debris hit Earth every day, though most fall into oceans.
The Charlottetown meteorite's close-range, sound-included video is a first, making this discovery even more remarkable.