A woman in France may have just become the second-ever known person to be hit by a falling space rock after a tiny meteorite fragment allegedly bounced off her roof and struck her in the chest, leaving her with minor bruises.
The unnamed woman, who lives in the town of Schirmeck in northeastern France, was on her porch drinking her morning coffee at around 4:00 a.m. local time on July 6 when she heard a loud "bang" from the roof and felt something 'bounce' into her ribs!
Initially, the woman thought she had been hit by a flying animal like a bird or bat before discovering a pebble-sized rock at her feet.
She took the rock, which weighs around 1.8 ounces (50 grams), to Thierry Rebmann, a geosciences consultant and formerly a paleogeology researcher at the University of Basel, for examination.
The pebble looked similar to volcanic rock, but it showed signs that it had been superheated in the atmosphere. It was mainly made from iron and silicon, which are common in meteorites, Rebmann told local news site France Bleu Alsace. "Finding a meteorite is rare, but in addition to being in direct contact and having it fall on you from the sky, it's an almost unique case," he added.
