From floating ghosts to potential UFOs, Ring doorbells have captured many strange occurrences.
Now a couple’s security camera has captured something completely new to science.
For the first time ever, the terrifying sound of a meteorite hitting Earth has been revealed.
The groundbreaking video shows the exact moment a piece of space rock hit the driveway of a house in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
In July 2024, Laura Kelly and her partner Joe Velaidum had just returned from walking their dogs when they found a mysterious star-shaped mark outside their home.
Checking their Ring camera’s recording, they watched as a rock flew out of the sky and exploded in a burst of dust on the ground.
Through quick thinking, the couple managed to collect about seven grams of suspected space rock and sent it to Dr. Chris Herd, chief curator of the meteorite collection at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Herd says, “No other meteorite impact has been documented in this way, complete with sound.”
Residents of Prince Edward Island, Canada were stunned to discover that their Ring doorbell had captured the stunning moment a meteorite crashed into their driveway
The shocking video marks the first time the sound of an asteroid hitting Earth has ever been recorded
When the rock crashed into their house, it moved so fast that the camera only captured it for one frame.
But once Dr. Herd looked at the samples, there was no doubt that this was no ordinary stone.
Coincidentally, Dr. Herd had already planned a trip to the area just ten days after the impact and was able to make a detour to the location.
There he discovered that the meteorite had blown a 2cm x 2cm hole in the walkway outside the house.
With the help of Joe and Laura, Dr. Herd collected 95 grams of asteroid material that is now being held for further research at the University of Alberta.
From Dr.’s analysis Herd shows that the rock, now called the Charlottetown meteorite after the capital of Prince Edward Island, was made of chondrite, the most common meteorite material.
Chondrite meteors are remnants of the formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago and have lain virtually untouched in the far reaches of space ever since.
This particular rock would have started its long journey to Canada in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, about 204 million miles (329 million kilometers) from Earth.
In July 2024, Laura Kelly and her partner Joe Velaidum had just returned from walking their dogs when they found a mysterious star-shaped mark outside their home.
This was particularly exciting as this is the only recorded meteorite impact in the island’s history.
Dr. Herd says, “As the first and only meteorite from the province of Prince Edward Island, the Charlottetown Meteorite certainly announced its arrival in spectacular fashion.
‘It adds a whole new dimension to the natural history of the island.’
But most exciting of all is that this is the only time the sound of a meteorite impact has ever been recorded.
Dr. Herd said CBC News: ‘It’s not something we’ve ever heard before. From a scientific perspective it is new.’
The violent boom of the impact heard in the video is a product of the incredible speed of the Charlottetown meteorite.
Meteorites typically arrive at the edge of Earth’s atmosphere and travel at speeds of more than 60,000 kilometers per hour before slowing down.
Dr. Herd estimates that the Charlottetown meteorite was probably moving at about 120 miles per hour when it hit the ground.
The meteorite is believed to have struck the ground at a speed of about 200 kilometers per hour, producing enough force to bore a 2cm hole in the walkway.
Although the meteorite was not large enough to cause serious damage to the property, it could have been quite dangerous if Joe and Laura had been nearby.
“The shocking thing to me is that I was standing there for a few minutes right before this impact,” Joe says.
“If I had seen it, I probably would have been standing there, so it probably would have torn me in half.”
Despite being a first for Prince Edward Island, these types of events are actually surprisingly common.
Dr. Greg Brown, Senior Public Astronomy Officer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: ‘Meteors fall into the Earth’s atmosphere very often. Millions of tiny dust and rock particles burn up in the atmosphere every day, amounting to about 15,000 tons of material over the course of a year.
‘If those particles are large enough, they can survive entry into the atmosphere and have an impact on the Earth. Recent estimates suggest that around 17,000 impacts occur annually.”
However, most of these are so small that they end up on the Earth’s surface as grains of dust, after burning away their outer layers.
Although impacts to human settlements are rare, scientists estimate that there are about two “adverse impacts” every year.
Further analysis at the University of Alberta shows that the meteorite (pictured) is made of chondrite, a material left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
A family from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, discovered their windscreen had been smashed by an iron-rich meteorite on Boxing Day last year.
Likewise, in 2019, scientists confirmed the first ever ‘harmful impact’ in Uruguay after a 712-gram rock broke through the cement ceiling of a house, shattering a TV and bed frame underneath.
Although no one has ever been killed by a direct impact from a meteorite, in 1953 an American woman named Ann Elizabeth Fowler Hodges became the first and only person ever to be hit by a space rock.
According to an investigation at the time, a 3.8kg rock shot through the roof of her house, hit a radio console and bounced off her side.
The impact left Ms. Hodges with severe bruising and the unique claim of being the only person ever directly injured by a meteor impact.
But given how big the planet is and how little it is actually inhabited, there is little reason to worry about these kinds of small consequences.
‘The vast majority of meteorites are much smaller, limiting the potential damage they can cause,’ Dr Brown added.
‘Despite how widespread humanity is, most of the Earth’s surface is made up of ocean, desert and other similarly sparsely populated places, meaning most impacts go unnoticed, let alone threaten life and health. ‘