In a once-in-a-lifetime event, a meteor strike captured on video stunned scientists and one very lucky Canadian homeowner. Joe Velaidum, from Marshfield, Prince Edward Island, narrowly avoided becoming the second person in history confirmed to be hit by a meteorite.
Instead, he lived to share his incredible tale—and the video evidence to back it up. It all happened last July when Velaidum paused outside his home before heading out for a walk with his dogs. In an uncharacteristic move, he stopped to pick up a dog leash lying on the grass.
Little did he know, at that very moment, that a meteor hurtling toward Earth at 60,000 kilometers per hour (37,282 mph) was minutes away from striking the exact spot he stood on. “If I had stayed there a minute longer, I’d have been hit,” Velaidum told Compass Media.
When he returned home from his walk, Velaidum noticed strange dark debris on the ground. Curious, he checked his door camera and discovered footage of the meteorite’s fiery descent and explosive impact. The video and audio capture were a first-of-its-kind documentation of a meteor strike, which IFLScience has now uploaded to YouTube.
Velaidum collected debris samples, which the University of Alberta later confirmed to be chondrite—a type of rock formed during the birth of the Solar System. This means that the meteor traveled millions of miles before reaching our little blue marble.
According to scientists, Earth is bombarded with meteoritic material daily. However, most burn up in the atmosphere. Capturing such an event on video, complete with sound, is incredibly rare. And thanks to his door camera, the world now has proof of it happening.
