• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
4,500,000,000 year old meteor that crashed into man's home turned out to have surprising value

Home> News

Published 10:17 24 Oct 2024 GMT+1

4,500,000,000 year old meteor that crashed into man's home turned out to have surprising value

People estimated its value to be worth millions

Rebekah Jordan

Rebekah Jordan

A man in Kolang, Indonesia made headlines after a meteorite crashed into his home, only to find out later it wasn't worth the fortune people thought.

Josua Hutagalung got the fright of his life when the meteorite smashed through his tin-roofed veranda, landing just outside his living room.

The space rock buried itself 15cm into the soil with an enormous thud.

"When I lifted it, it was still warm," the father-of-three told the BBC's Indonesian service. "That's when I thought that the object I was lifting was a meteorite from the sky. It was impossible for someone to throw a rock that big onto the roof of the house."

Advert

The Sumatra meteorite, estimated to be around 4.5 billion years old and weighing 2.1kg, was classified as an extremely rare CM1/2 carbonaceous chondrite.

Many curious minds online suggested that the find was worth as much as $1.8m (£1.36m), making the man an overnight millionaire.

People thought that Josua Hutagalung from Kolang was going to become an overnight millionaire (Simon Schwyter/Unsplash)
People thought that Josua Hutagalung from Kolang was going to become an overnight millionaire (Simon Schwyter/Unsplash)

But the truth was, the meteorite wasn't worth millions.

Advert

So where did the $1.8m figure come from?

Turns out, the figure was based on nothing more than wishful thinking and some quesitionable maths.

Along with the large 2kg meteorite, smaller fragments of it were found near Josua’s home.

Some of these pieces were sold, with two ending up on eBay in the US.

Advert

The asking prices are $285 for 0.3g and $29,120 for 33.68g. This translates to about $860 per gram and if you multiply this by the weight of the large boulder, you end up at $1.8m.

"When I read that figure, I had to laugh," Laurence Garvie, a research professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, told the BBC.

"I've seen this story so many times before. Someone finds a meteorite and they look on ebay and think it's worth millions because they see small fragments sold for a large amount."

It's thought that the rock could be older than the Earth (Josua Hutagalung / Facebook)
It's thought that the rock could be older than the Earth (Josua Hutagalung / Facebook)

Advert

He added: "People are fascinated by owning something that's older than the Earth, something that's from space.

"So you might have people willing to pay a few hundred or thousand dollars for a small piece. But no-one would pay millions for a larger boulder."

In fact, the price of it typically goes down as the size of the piece increases.

As an expert in the field, Dr. Garvie inspected pieces of the Sumatra meteorite and found that it's mostly made up of clay (70-80%), essentially making it an 'extra-terrestrial mudball.'

Advert

He explained: "It's dominated by a bit of iron, oxygen, magnesium, aluminium and calcium - that's probably worth one dollar, two if I'm generous."

Even though Josua’s discovery held a lot less monetary value than he thought, the meteorite still holds major value in the science world.

Findings like this can give scientists important clues about how life started on Earth and develop our understanding of space.

Featured Image Credit: Josua Hutagalung / Facebook
Science
Space

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    US deals with security breach as AI scammer impersonates Secretary of State Marco Rubio to foreign ministers

    The scammer was sending AI-generated voicemails

    News
  • 3 hours ago

    Investor who sold revolutionary tech for 300 Bitcoin is worth a small fortune decade later

    He's been all in on Bitcoin since he was 12

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    Tragic story of once bustling California town left 90% destroyed by one small piece of metal

    The fire tragically claimed the lives of 85 people

    News
  • 4 hours ago

    Man branded 'dishonest and deceitful' fired after company discovered he was faking over 100 hours of work at home

    A warning to others who think they can slack off when working from home

    News
  • 3,500,000,000 year-old meteor crater reveals secrets of Earth's ancient past
  • Archaeologists discover 3,500-year-old lost city hidden in Peru that was once a buzzing hub
  • 35,000,000-year-old discovery underneath lake is still baffling scientists today
  • NASA discovers 12,500,000,000-year-old 'planet killer' aimed straight at Earth