Hillsborough homeowners recover meteorite, NASA traces origin to asteroid belt
Technology
A meteorite crashed into a house in Hillsborough, New Jersey, giving the surprised homeowners, one of them an amateur astronomer, a real-life science adventure.
They carefully collected the space rock and handed it over to NASA, which traced it all the way back to the asteroid belt.
Meteorite contains salty water, amino acids
Inside the meteorite, scientists found ancient salty water and rare amino acids, key ingredients for life.
As researcher Mike Zolensky put it, "Following the history of water through the solar system is an essential part of understanding the origin of life."
The homeowners called their experience "surreal," and their unexpected find could help us learn how planets (and maybe even life) began billions of years ago.