A meteor passing just south of the Statue of Liberty shook New York City on July 16, 2024. Now a team of researchers reports in Science Advances on the more than 4-kilogram meteorite that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey house.

“A forensic study of the fragments revealed that they contained preserved bits from near the surface of a primitive asteroid where it experienced concentrated salty fluids — a process not previously known from this type of proto planet world,” said lead author and meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

The meteorite was tracked by American Meteor Society cameras as well as a doorbell camera in Wayne, New Jersey. Those cameras let researchers track the meteorite’s trajectory back to low in the asteroid belt.

Researchers credit the fast actions of the homeowner with the pristine condition of the fragments.

“I was at home at the time, heard a loud crash and found a hole in the ceiling of the master bedroom,” the homeowners says. “I smelled a strong sulfur-like odor and saw many black fragments along with debris and black dust that covered my bed, carpet and surrounding areas.”

He used disposable gloves and aluminum foil to place the meteorite fragments in glass jars.

The high concentration of salt in briny fluids could create molecules crucial to life on Earth, the team says.

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