Meteorite that tore through southeastern US skies this summer determined to be older than Earth itself, researchers say

A meteorite that tore through the sky in June shaking the Southeast with a sonic boom is now believed to be 4.56 billion years old, according to researchers who studied it following its crash landing.

Fragments of the extraterrestrial rock were turned over to scientists after they fell to Earth this summer to determine their classification and origin.

The University of Georgia received 23 of the 50 grams of the McDonough Meteorite, named after the Georgia city where it ripped through the roof and ceiling of a home, according to the university .

“This particular meteor that entered the atmosphere has a long history before it made it to the ground of McDonough,” Scott Harris, a researcher in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ department of geology, said in the news release