The residents were not home at the time, members of the Township Committee said when discussing the event at Tuesday night's meeting, although police later said the homeowner was on the property, but heard nothing. No one was injured, Township Mayor John Malay and other officials said.
The address of the home has not been released. However, Township Committeeman John Carpenter said the home is in the southern end of the township.
© Bernards Township PoliceA trench created on a township lawn believed to have been created by a small meteorite. No One was injured, officials said.
An official police report issued on Wednesday said police had responded at about 2:26 p.m. to a report of property damage to a residence located along the Mount Airy Road corridor, south of Lyons Road. Police said they are withholding the address for the privacy of the residents.
Sgt. Scott Ward arrived at the home and observed a hole in the ground at the front of the property, police said. The hole was approximately seven feet long, four feet wide and 18 inches deep, according to the police report.
In addition, dirt and rock debris were strewn approximately 100 feet from the hole, police said. Police said the homeowner stated that he had been home all day and did not see or hear anything that he believed may have caused the hole. The homeowner noticed the hole at about 2:15 p.m., according to police.
© Bernards Township PoliceTownship home where the lawn is believed to have been hit by a small meteorite on Friday, May 6th.
Malay said no trace of a meteorite was found, but the material may have disintegrated upon impact. "It must have been traveling pretty darn fast," he said.
The mayor said a seismograph based at the William Annin Middle School detected an "event" that day at about 11:35 a.m.
In order to rule out the possibility that an explosive device was responsible for creating the hole, the New Jersey State Police Bomb Squad was contacted and responded to the residence. The NJSP Bomb Squad determined that no evidence of an explosive device was present.
© Nathan SusanjDeputy Mayor, John Malay.
Officials expressed relief that the flying object did not hit a house, or injure anyone.
Here’s another little one that I thought may be of interest:
A Romanian man planting potatoes almost died when a meteorite believed to be from the tale of Halley's Comet thudded into the ground inches from where he was working.
Dumitru Zvanca, said: "I heard a brief whoosh of air and then something hit the ground just to one side of me with an enormous thud. I didn't see a meteor, but I saw the small crater of earth it made and whatever had hit the ground had sunk into the earth."
The meteorite ended up in two equally sized halves and he kept one - the other has been sent for tests at the Geology Faculty in Iasi.
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