Woman hit by meteorite in rare astronomy event

A woman from France got struck by a meteorite while having coffee with her friend on the terrace in a rare case of an astronomical event.

According to a foreign news agency, the woman – whose identity was not unveiled – was talking to her friend when a pebble hit her in the ribs outside her residence. 

The woman, speaking with a French news agency, recalled hearing a loud boom before being hit by the rock. 

“I heard a big ‘Poom’ coming from the roof next to us,” she said. “In the second that followed, I felt a shock in the ribs. I thought it was an animal, a bat! 

“We thought it was a piece of cement, the one we apply to the ridge tiles. But it didn’t have the colour.”

The woman did not recognize the pebble at first. She contacted a roofer who told her that it was a piece of meteorite.

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She got in touch with geologist Thierry Rebmann, who confirmed it was a piece of meteorite. He said it was made of The geologist stated that a mixture of iron and silicon, which is not rare.

It was a rare case of a human getting struck by a meteorite.

“Finding a meteor is already uncommon, but to be in direct contact and have it fall on you, that is astronomically rare,” he said.

The scientist added that discovering meteorites in temperate climate zones is not common. 

“It’s very rare, in our temperate environments to find them. They merge with other elements. On the other hand, in a desert environment, we can find them more easily,” Dr Rebmann said.

NASA describes meteorites as ‘space rocks’ that survive their journey through the Earth’s atmosphere and hit the ground. The space agency added around 50 tonnes of meteoritic material is estimated to fall on the planet.