Jay Sullivent heard a loud bang while he was at home in Appling, and initially thought it was a car crash.
Unable to find a wreckage he took a walk around his lawn before stumbling on a burned circle of grass with smoke rising from it.
The drama happened on July 21.
When he approached, Mr Sullivent discovered the middle was alight, with a pink rock in the middle.
In a video taken at the time he exclaimed 'it's a damn meteorite' as he flicks the hot object out of the hole with a penknife.
Mr Sullivent said: 'It was so loud that I thought there had been a car accident on the road in front of my house.
'When I got over to the crater it was around 15 inches deep and about the same across. The rock in the middle was glowing red.'
Reader Comments
However, meteorites can be hot, if they fall quickly enough, or are big enough, so heat won't dissipate in time you find them. There really isn't much experience (most meteorites are picked long after they had time to lose heat), but there are reports of hot, warm or cold meteorites, when touched soon after impact.
I never touched a fresh meteorite, but last year I saw one which was smoking like a chimney (at night, in its own light), but unfortunately it stopped emitting light quickly, and I couldn't observe its impact. But I doubt it was very cold, with all this smoke.
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Ok Jay,, will you please return my bottle of charcoal lighter fluid now...