Roofs can endure a lot of abuse when built right, from severe hail to hurricane-force winds. But can they withstand ancient meteorites traveling faster than the speed of sound?

At least one roof in Georgia became the unwitting test subject of whether roofs can repel objects from outer space when a meteorite crashed through it on June 26. Hundreds of people in Georgia and South Carolina reported seeing a mysterious fireball blazing across the sky that day.

Known as a bolide, the bright meteor entered the atmosphere at cosmic velocity, traveling faster than the speed of sound toward McDonough, Ga., according to the University of Georgia.

“When they encounter Earth, our atmosphere is very good at slowing them down,” said Scott Harris, a researcher in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ department of geology, in a written statement. “But you’re talking about something that is double the size of a 50-caliber shell, going at least 1 kilometer (2,236.94 miles) per second. That’s like running 10 football fields in one second.”

In a news release, University of Georgia researchers said the meteorite had enough force behind it to tear through a man’s roof and HVAC duct, leaving a solid dent in his floor and creating a sound and vibration equivalent to a close-range gunshot.

“I suspect that he heard three simultaneous things. One was the collision with his roof, one was a tiny cone of a sonic boom and a third was it impacting the floor all in the same moment,” Harris said. “There was enough energy when it hit the floor that it pulverized part of the material down to literal dust fragments.”

The resident told Harris that he’s still finding specks of space dust in his living room.

This should hopefully bring some comfort to the roofing contractor who built that roof – there was nothing you could do.

The McDonough Meteorite

The meteorite traveled fast enough at an angle that it was able to pass through a homeowner’s roof, ductwork and ceiling. Photo courtesy of the University of Georgia

Dubbed the McDonough Meteorite, UGA received 23 grams of the 50 recovered from the piece that penetrated the house. An analysis of the meteorite shows it is made of “Low Metal (L) ordinary Chondrite” formed 4.56 billion years ago, which is older than the Earth itself.

“It belongs to a group of asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that we now think we can tie to a breakup of a much larger asteroid about 470 million years ago,” Harris said.

“But in that breakup, some pieces get into Earth-crossing orbits, and if given long enough, their orbit around the sun and Earth’s orbit around the sun end up being at the same place, at the same moment in time,” he added.

This is the 27th meteorite recovered in Georgia’s history, and the sixth witnessed fall. From the sounds of it, it won’t be the last one anytime soon.

“This is something that used to be expected once every few decades and not multiple times within 20 years,” Harris said. “Modern technology, in addition to an attentive public, is going to help us recover more and more meteorites.”

Does Insurance Cover Meteorites?

According to the Insurance Information Institute, policyholders are likely financially protected by insurance should a satellite, meteor or asteroid damage their property. Falling objects, which do include objects from space, are covered under standard homeowners and business insurance policies.