Australia: Possibly the first moving vehicle hit by a meteorite
In Australia, a museum expert is investigating whether a brand-new Tesla had its windshield shattered by a meteorite. Skepticism remains.
The damaged windshield
(Image: South Australian Museum)
In southern Australia, a moving car may have been hit by a falling meteorite for the first time worldwide. At least, that is what the driver and the expert from the Natural History Museum in Adelaide, who is investigating the incident, consider the most convincing explanation currently, reports the news portal ABC. This concerns a brand-new Tesla owned by a veterinarian, which was hit so hard by an unknown object while driving in mid-October that part of the windshield shattered. The fact that part of the glass was melted points to a meteorite as the cause. “We need to find an explanation for that,” ABC quotes mineralogist Kieran Meaney from the South Australian Museum.
Not all alternative theories ruled out
As reported by ABC reports and other news sites, the vehicle owner was traveling north of Adelaide on the night of October 19 when an “enormous explosion” occurred. The man, named Andrew Melville Smith, was subsequently covered in glass shards and bled. The vehicle itself was in semi-autonomous self-driving mode and simply continued driving. He initially dismissed the chaos inside the vehicle, possibly being caused by a meteorite, as “a pile of rubbish,” but then contacted the museum. The expert working there also considered it unlikely but changed his opinion after examining the damage.
ABC further adds that the police quickly ruled out that a bullet from a firearm or a stone thrown into the air from the road had shattered the windshield. “It is possible that the analysis will reveal another cause, but currently, the meteorite theory is the one we are working with,” says Meaney. The windshield will now be examined for traces of the responsible object, which could take weeks or months. He also intends to investigate whether a piece of space debris could be responsible for the damage. In Australia, such objects always cause a stir. However, should the meteorite theory be confirmed, further fragments of the cosmic object will be sought.
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Even though alternative theories for the cause of the damage are currently considered unlikely or even ruled out, doubts about the meteorite remain. The probability of such an incident is extremely low. Speaking to ABC, an astrophysicist from the University of Southern Queensland points out that there are no reports of a flash of light in the sky from that night. However, there should have been one minute before the impact, as the object from space would have partially burned up, ABC quotes Jonti Horner. It is possible, for example, that an object fell from an airplane and hit the car. So far, there are no reports worldwide of a meteorite hitting a moving car. It has only happened to parked cars.
(mho)
