Object Believed to Be Meteorite Crashes Through New Jersey Home

A metallic object, believed to be a meteorite, crashed through the roof of a home in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, on Monday afternoon.

Police said the approximately 4 inch by 6 inch object went through the ceiling and hit a bedroom floor of the ranch-style home on Old Washington Crossing Pennington Rd.

No one was hurt but the home was damaged.

The family that owns the home told CBS Philadelphia that they first thought someone had thrown a rock.

“I did touch the thing because I just thought it was a random rock,” Suzy Kop said. “And it was warm.”

She said the object damaged the floor when it hit, and then ricocheted across the room, hit the ceiling again, and then came to a rest in a corner.

The Hopewell Township Police Department said it has contacted several other agencies for assistance in identifying to object.

Police say it may be related to a current meteor shower called the Eta Aquarid.

According to Space.com, the peak of the Eta Aquarid shower took place over the weekend and the chunks of space debris come from Halley's Comet.

The Planetary Science Institute says that an estimated 500 meteorites reach the surface of the Earth each year but less than 10 are recovered.  They say most fall into the ocean or remote areas of land.

Derrick Pitts, from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, told the CBS Philadelphia that if could be five billion years old.

"For it to actually strike a house, for people to be able to pick up, that's really unusual and has happened every few times in history," Pitts said.