Driving on the Augusta Highway, veterinarian Andrew Melville-Smith found an abominable scene. This happened approximately 40 kilometres beyond Port Germein in SA. Then, as he approached the halfway point of his journey, a loud and violent explosion shook him awake. At first he assumed he’d run into something. He described how a loud bang came just seconds after a truck sped by his police cruiser. This unexpected noise led to inquiries about the source.
Melville-Smith’s car was completely smashed. The windscreen had exploded and was half melted. He fled the attack scene bleeding and cut to shreds by glass shards. Though it was pandemonium within his cabin, he didn’t see what hit the windscreen. Melville-Smith didn’t actually think there was much chance a meteorite would strike his vehicle. Then he acted fast to contact the South Australian Museum, which was keen to explore the unusual occurrence.
Investigating the Incident
Dr Kieran Meaney and Professor Jonti Horner are at the head of the probe into a most curious occurrence. This unusual moment, a romantic encounter between a moving car and a falling star, distracts them completely. Additionally, they intend to examine the windscreen once it’s damaged in order to look for specific debris that would have become embedded during the impact.
Dr. Meaney remarked on the extraordinary nature of such an event, stating, “The odds of that happening are just phenomenally low — if he had been driving 10 kilometres faster or slower, it would have missed him.” If confirmed, this unusual phoenix might just become the first known instance of a meteorite hitting a car in motion anywhere in the world.
In reference to meteorite involvement, Professor Horner said that while we can’t rule that out, we don’t have to jump to that conclusion. “Not saying it isn’t a meteorite, I’m just saying there is good cause to be sceptical when it could just be a rock from another source,” he noted. The team will continue to pursue all exploration. They’ll determine if the items could be space junk — or pieces of a plane that dropped from the sky.
Witnessing Chaos
Reflecting on the incident, Melville-Smith described how his vehicle was “driving along and unconcerned … it wasn’t aware of the chaos that was going on in the cabin.” He confessed that his initial reaction was that a bullet or rogue stone had ricocheted off the passing truck. But these possibilities were quickly dismissed by local authorities.
That past experience had him rattled, as he told, “Most people are like, ‘Get the f—- outta here. Even he would be hard-pressed to believe the meteorite thing would do any damage to his vehicle. Initially, he rejected it as “a complete load of old rubbish.” He didn’t stop there — he wanted to know what might have caused this weird occurrence, asking, “What else melts your windscreen?
Scientific Analysis Ahead
In this first phase, the research team hopes to perform detailed chemical analyses on any debris discovered anywhere in or about Melville-Smith’s windscreen. This will allow scientists to find out if it corresponds to known meteorites or perhaps comes from closer to Earth. According to Professor Horner, “We’ll do chemical analyses to see what they’re made of, if they match any known meteorite or something closer to Earth.”
That’s one part of what the investigation will entail, examining debris. It will look for any fireballs reported in the sky at the time of the incident. Horner explained, “Two, three or four minutes before this rock hit the car, there should have been very widely observed across that region a fireball in the sky, at least as bright as a full moon if not significantly brighter.”
As experts delve deeper into this extraordinary event, both Melville-Smith and the scientific community await answers that may shed light on what truly struck his vehicle on that fateful day.
