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A Canadian couple had a narrow escape as a meteorite struck outside their house minutes after they stepped out for a walk. The doorbell camera captured the moment.
In July last year, Joe Velaidum and his wife, Laura Kelly, got home after walking their dogs. They noticed their brick sidewalk was covered with dusty debris in the shape of a star.
The rare recording on their doorbell camera showed a fast-moving space rock crashing into the ground, causing a massive explosion of grey dust.
Meteorite impact recorded by a doorbell camera pic.twitter.com/FL0VpH2yQL
— curious side of 𝕏 (@curioXities) January 16, 2025
"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," Joe Velaidum said in an interview with CNN.
A few months later, a lab analysis confirmed it was indeed a rock that fell from space. The object was then formally included in a database maintained by the non-profit Meteoritical Society. The specimen was named "Charlottetown" after the city on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada where it struck.
While 69 meteorites have been discovered and registered nationwide, the Charlottetown meteorite stands out due to its accompanying video. Although the doorbell clip showing its arrival is not the first to be captured on camera, it is noteworthy as the incident was recorded at very close range and with sound.
"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," said Chris Herd, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta in Canada.
The majority of space rocks that strike Earth's atmosphere go unnoticed because they either burn up before they can reach the surface or land in remote places. A few people have ever been near a meteorite at the precise moment of impact, and the likelihood of seeing one happen firsthand is exceedingly unlikely.