To get to Northern Ireland, it traveled for about 200 million kilometers, but after two weeks, it was gone.
The Crumlin meteorite has returned after more than 120 years to its "earthly home" in the Ulster Museum.
It is one of only three that have been found in Northern Ireland and it fell to the ground in 1902.
Even though it is only the size of a small handbag, it would have had a significant impact in a number of ways.
A meteorite is a piece of rock or iron that has fallen to Earth from space. They are remnants of the solar system's creation.
In the night sky, meteors and shooting stars are frequently seen, but meteorites that strike the planet are much less frequent.
A fireball that lit up the sky and caused a shockwave that injured hundreds of people occurred ten years ago when one crashed in Russia.
A fireball trail from Wales to Northern Ireland was also produced by the 1969 Bovedy meteorite, which fell close to Limavady.
The Crumlin meteorite is named after the community in County Antrim that it crashed into on September 13, 1902.
It had traveled a great distance to get there, according to Dr. Mike Simms of the Ulster Museum.
It will have originated from the so-called asteroid belt, a region of debris located between Mars' and Jupiter's orbits, he told BBC News Northern Ireland.
"You're talking about, like, a couple hundred million kilometers, so it's a long way. ".
Dr. Simms claims that it is also a very old object, dating back billions of years, and that it startled nearby farm workers as it fell to Earth.
Some of them compared the noises they heard to a train veering off the tracks, an explosion in a mill nearby, or a swarm of bees, he said.
"That's basically a sonic boom because it was traveling at 30,000 miles per hour when it first hit the atmosphere.
"So when it touched down, people noticed a man 20 feet away gathering apples.
He went over and dug it out after noticing it hit the ground. ".
During that time, several eye-catching accounts about the meteorite were published.
According to a 1902 report in the magazine Nature, it caused a bang that could be heard more than 10 miles away in Lisburn and Lurgan.
Some locals also thought Armageddon had arrived as a result of this.
The arrival of the Day of Judgment was perceived by some of the hearers, according to Nature.
Crumlin was not the meteorite's destination, though.
It had left Northern Ireland by the month of September 1902, however.
Sir Lazarus Fletcher transported it from the Natural History Museum to London amid some controversy.
After being made aware of the meteorite, he purchased it from Andrew Walker, the owner of the farm where it had fallen.
A John Bull-like character is depicted fleeing with a meteorite in an old newspaper cartoon.
But according to Dr. Mike Simms, that wasn't out of the ordinary in those days.
It returned to the national meteorite collection at the British Museum in London—or, as it eventually became, the Natural History Museum—within two weeks, he said.
They have one of the best collections in the world, so it makes sense that it would go there, and since Ireland was naturally a part of Britain at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do, he continued.
But on Monday, the meteorite returned to Northern Ireland after more than 120 years thanks to a loan from the Natural History Museum to the Ulster Museum.
The fact that we were able to work with the Natural History Museum to bring it back to Northern Ireland so that the locals could actually see one of their own meteorites is fantastic, according to Dr. Simms.
Instead of returning to its home in space, it has returned to its earthly home. ".
It is anticipated that the Crumlin meteorite will remain on display at the Ulster Museum for the following three years.
- Rock shards that come to Earth from outer space are known as meteorites. A meteor that lands turns into a meteorite.
- Every day, 44 tonnes (44,000 kg) of meteoritic material, according to scientists, falls to Earth.
- Ancient Egyptians used meteorites to fashion high-status items like jewelry.
