Meteorite Hits Paris Home

Space rock found in the Comette family's roof
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 11, 2011 12:59 AM CDT
Meteorite Hits Paris Home
Experts say this is the first known meteorite strike within 50 miles of Paris.   (Getty Images)

The Comettes were on vacation when their home was hit by a meteorite. The egg-sized space rock stayed buried in the insulation of the French family's home in suburban Paris until they called somebody in to fix their leaking roof, the Telegraph reports. "We got the roof tiler round and he was astounded," said Martine Comette. "He said: 'You need to be Superman to break a tile like that! It must be a meteorite.'"

The meteorite has been identified as a 4.5 billion-year-old piece of chondrite from the belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Some meteorites sell for more than a thousand dollars a gram, but the Comettes say theirs isn't for sale. "A piece of the history of space, of which we know nothing, but which is fascinating, has fallen on us," Comette explained. "It's like a fairytale, and less likely than winning the lottery, we're told." (More meteorites stories.)

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