World abuzz over space invader

The meteorite that crashed through Brenda Archer's roof. Picture / Richard Robinson

By STUART DYE

It weighs 1.3kg, is 4.5 billion years old and could be worth thousands of dollars - but to its new owners it's just a lump of rock that's causing more than its fair share of trouble.

Phil and Brenda Archer were stunned when a meteorite plummeted through the roof of their Ellerslie home on Saturday morning.

It meant insurance hassles and a clean-up operation in the lounge of their house.

And now they are being plagued by enthusiasts, experts, collectors and media desperate for more details on the extra-terrestrial intruder.

"We've been inundated with phone calls from overseas and people at the house.

"Obviously it's a very rare thing to happen but it's just been a crazy reaction for a piece of rock," said Mr Archer.

It is a rock that travelled as much as 700 million kilometres from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Scientists believe it could have been the size of a basketball and hurtling at 15km a second when it entered the Earth's atmosphere.

By the time it arrived at the Archer household, it would have slowed to a few hundred metres a second.

"It sounded like an explosion and all I could see was dust everywhere," said Mrs Archer, who was just a few paces away from the impact when the meteorite struck.

It crashed through the roof, bounced off the leather couch and hit the ceiling before ricocheting and coming to land on the lounge floor.

Minutes earlier the couple's 11-month-old grandson Luca had been playing where the rock finished its journey.

"It was hot to touch and we were fairly stunned," said Mr Archer. "We called the insurance company and within a few hours the house was crawling with scientists."

Since then the couple have been fielding calls from all over the world. Scientists and collectors in equal measure are keen to get hold of the meteorite - only the ninth found in New Zealand and the first to hit a house.

"It's a very exciting find and a very rare event," said Auckland University lecturer Dr Joel Schiff, editor of Meteorite Magazine.

"It is most likely a chip off an asteroid and is older than anything else on Earth. It is one of the few physical records of the early solar system."