On the morning of July 16, 2024, an ultrabright meteor streaked across the sky above New York City. It exploded midflight, and part of it smashed through the roof of a home in Hillsborough, New Jersey.

“I heard an immense crash and felt the house shake,” one of the homeowners, who wanted to remain anonymous for privacy, tells Robin George Andrews at the New York Times. He then went to the source of the sound: the main bedroom. “I open the door, and I see a hole in the ceiling above my bed.”

The crime scene smelled like rotten eggs and was covered in black soot. Scattered about were several dark rocks—fragments of a meteorite, a space rock that reached Earth’s surface. Together, the recovered pieces formed a roughly three-pound object dubbed the Hillsborough meteorite.

Now, scientists have analyzed the Hillsborough meteorite and determined that it belongs to a rare class of primitive meteorites and contains certain building blocks of life and evidence of salty water. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances on July 15, provide a new window into our solar system’s past and clues about the origins of life on Earth.

AMS event #3491-2024 caught from Wayne US

The Hillsborough meteorite fortunately caused no injuries and landed in the home of a couple that was eager to safeguard the space-faring debris for scientists. They quickly contacted study co-author Mike Hankey, an amateur astronomer at the American Meteor Society, who guided them through the process of properly preserving the samples, reports Ashley Strickland at CNN. The homeowners donned gloves and carefully collected the fragments using aluminum foil and glass containers.

The rock fragments were then brought into a lab for analyses involving high-powered microscopes and investigations into its mineral and chemical composition. The work revealed that the meteorite was a CM carbonaceous chondrite, a carbon-rich class of meteorite that may have delivered water to Earth during its youth.

“These are primitive meteorites,” says Peter Brown, a meteor physicist at Western University in Canada who was not involved in the study, to the Times. “They resemble the chemistry that made the planets.”

CM carbonaceous chondrites are usually classified as either CM1 or CM2, largely depending on how much water changed their composition when they were attached to their parent asteroid. But curiously, the analyses hinted that the Hillsborough meteorite sits in between the classes. While scientists have been able to witness 22 CM-type meteorites fall to Earth, only two, including Hillsborough, have been intermediate CM1/2-types.

“Thanks to the homeowner’s quick reaction, these are the most pristine CM1/2 [meteorite pieces] we know of,” says study co-author Peter Jenniskens, a planetary astronomer at the SETI Institute, in a statement.

This exceptional state of preservation meant the Hillsborough meteorite retained much of its original composition. The rock contains microscopic fractures filled with sodium-rich material, the team found, which suggests that the parent asteroid once had salty water moving through it. The meteorite also holds a plethora of amino acids, the units that build proteins, most of which don’t occur naturally on Earth.

“One of the big surprises for me when we analyzed a small chip of the Hillsborough meteorite was the complexity of amino acids and other organic compounds,” says study co-author Danny Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in a NASA statement.

What’s more, cameras across New Jersey recorded the trajectory of the blazing meteor—considered a fireball since it outshone Venus—as it zipped through the atmosphere, which helped the scientists figure out where in the solar system the space rock came from. The team suspects that the rock was once part of the 45-mile-wide asteroid 163 Erigone in the inner asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. A huge object slammed into it about 155 million years ago, creating a family of asteroids. Then, around six million years ago, “a smaller collision destroyed one of these asteroids, from which a piece ended up in near-Earth orbit,” writes Jenniskens in an email to CNN.

“That piece experienced heat/cold cycles from spinning in the sunlight and fragmented about 200,000 years ago,” he adds. Eventually, it entered Earth’s atmosphere at 32,000 miles per hour, most of it getting vaporized on the way to the house in New Jersey.

Jenniskens says that people shouldn’t fear a home visit from a celestial rock. It’s unlikely to happen, and even if it does, a meteorite is a “treasure,” he tells Lisa Grossman at Science News. “I think you are very lucky if it happens to you.”

• Pittsburgh was under a Code Red air quality alert on Thursday, July 16 due to wildfire smoke.
• The smoke originated from wildfires burning in Canada and Minnesota.
• A Code Red alert indicates unhealthy air quality, while a Code Orange alert means it is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Pittsburgh was under a code red air quality alert on Thursday, July 16 as wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota settled across the city.

The city’s air quality was expected to deteriorate as smoke concentration at ground level increased throughout the day, with the day’s overall air quality forecast as unhealthy due to fine particles carried in smoke, according to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Here’s what to know about Pittsburgh’s air quality.

What’s the air quality in Pittsburgh today?

The morning of July 16, the air quality was moderate, with an Air Quality Index reading of 55, according to AirNow. But it was expected to hit unhealthy levels later in the day, with the overall daily air quality anticipated to reach dangerous levels with an AQI of 175, prompting Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to issue a Code Red air quality alert. The alert is based on the day’s expected overall air quality and not individual hour-to-hour readings.

Smoke was likely to continue to impact Pittsburgh into the weekend, with a forecast overall daily AQI of 140 on July 17, with the state department of environmental protection issuing a Code Orange air quality alert. This indicates that the air quality may be unhealthy for sensitive groups.

July 18 was likely to see improved conditions, with moderate air quality.

What does a Code Red air quality alert mean?

A Code Red air quality alert indicates that the overall air quality within a day is likely to be unhealthy, with an AQI reading of 151 to 200.

Because the alert is based on the overall air quality for the day, there may be periods of time with better air quality. It’s a good idea to check the current air quality before going outside.

If you have to go outside while the AQI is at unhealthy levels, AirNow recommends avoiding strenuous activities or limiting your time outdoors. It may be a good idea to move outdoor activities indoors.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection also encouraged residents to avoid using gas-powered lawn and garden equipment, reducing the use of fireplaces or wood stoves and avoiding the open burning of leaves, trash or other materials in an effort to reduce fine particulate matter air polution.

Gray’s Ice Cream has been scooping cones at a Rhode Island crossroads since 1923. That kind of staying power is what keeps these eight towns on national favorites lists year after year. Newport carries the Gilded Age mansions and a 3.5-mile shoreline walk past their lawns. Woonsocket holds a former church that Yankee Magazine named the Sistine Chapel of America. Tiverton trades on windsurfing beaches and a colonial village full of galleries. Each town here earns a full day, and several reward a whole weekend.

Newport

Newport faces the Atlantic from the southern tip of Aquidneck Island, and USA Today 10Best readers voted it the No. 6 coastal small town in America for 2024. The Cliff Walk runs 3.5 miles between Easton’s Beach and Bailey’s Beach, a National Recreation Trail since 1975, with surf on one side and Gilded Age lawns on the other. Along the way stands The Breakers, the 70-room summer home Cornelius Vanderbilt II completed in 1895, open for tours through the Preservation Society of Newport County. Downtown, Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, remains the oldest synagogue building in the United States and still houses an active congregation. Bowen’s Wharf now stacks restaurants and galleries beside the docks. Newport fits anyone who wants beach days framed in marble.

Middletown

Middletown stretches across the center of Aquidneck Island, and its shoreline carries the day. Sandy crescents at Second Beach and Third Beach bookend a peninsula that ends at Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge. Those 242 protected acres host more than 200 bird species on migration, and snowy owls sometimes winter there. Inland, the Norman Bird Sanctuary keeps seven miles of trails across roughly 300 acres; the Hanging Rock route looks down on the refuge and the beach below. Newport Vineyards pours its tastings in Middletown, despite the name, an easy stop on the ride home. Middletown is the pick for visitors who measure a good day in shorebirds and sand.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth crowns the north end of Aquidneck Island and has been settled since 1638, second in age only to Providence among Rhode Island municipalities. Green Animals Topiary Garden clips more than 80 figures from privet, yew, and boxwood on a seven-acre estate above Narragansett Bay. The oldest topiary garden in the country stays in bloom through the warm months, roughly May into October. Glen Manor House, a town-owned French-style manor on the Sakonnet River, presides over the old Glen Farm estate, with the walking paths and picnic groves of Glen Park alongside. Greenvale Vineyards pours estate wines in a tasting room of former horse stalls beside 27 acres of riverside vines. Families head for the shallow water at Sandy Point Beach. Portsmouth works for anyone who likes a coastline with topiary elephants on it.

Tiverton

Tiverton lines the east bank of the Sakonnet River, where shore roads and stone walls funnel day-trippers toward Tiverton Four Corners. Galleries, antique shops, and the Four Corners Arts Center fill buildings dating to the 18th century. Gray’s Ice Cream has been scooping at the crossroads since 1923, with a summer line to prove it. Behind the village, Weetamoo Woods and the adjoining Pardon Gray Preserve spread hundreds of acres of oak forest, old mill ruins, and walking trails. Fogland Beach is a black-stone beach located on Fogland Point, where steady wind draws windsurfers and the views run across to Aquidneck Island. Tiverton makes the case for a slow afternoon that ends with a cone at the crossroads.

Warren

Warren gets introduced as the smallest town in the smallest county in the smallest state, and its few square miles hold an outsized food scene. Blount Clam Shack offers clam cakes beside the docks on Water Street, while the Hope & Main food incubator keeps hatching new food businesses a few blocks inland. The East Bay Bike Path is a 14.5-mile path between Providence and Bristol, dropping riders within a short walk of the waterfront. History holds the center of town too: the Historic Warren Armory still fronts a downtown that grew up on shipbuilding and marine trades. Warren belongs on this list for travelers who plan trips around lunch.

East Greenwich

East Greenwich climbs from Greenwich Cove in a district known as Hill and Harbor, with Main Street running the ridge a block above the water. The Greenwich Odeum opened on that street in 1926 at the tail end of vaudeville and reopened in the fall of 1994 as a performing arts mainstay. Sailboats crowd the cove below Scalloptown Park, named for the shellfishing grounds that once ran the local economy, with walking paths along the bay. The 1773 Varnum House Museum on Peirce Street preserves the home of Continental Army General James Mitchell Varnum. East Greenwich suits travelers who want dinner with a marina view and a show afterward.

North Kingstown

North Kingstown keeps its showpiece in Wickford, a harbor village holding one of the largest collections of 18th-century homes in the Northeast. The Old Narragansett Church was built in 1707 and moved to Wickford in the 1800s. It is also believed to be the oldest Episcopal church building in the northeastern United States. Just north of the village, Smith’s Castle dates to 1678, one of the oldest houses in Rhode Island, built near the site where Roger Williams ran a 1637 trading post. Each summer, the Wickford Art Festival, held since 1962, brings roughly 200 juried artists to Wilson Park. Kayaks trace the edges of one of the best-protected natural harbors on the East Coast.

Woonsocket

Woonsocket bends around the Blackstone River at the state’s northern edge, where mill-era fortunes paid for a cultural inheritance that still surprises first-timers. The St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center holds the largest collection of fresco paintings in North America. Guido Nincheri painted the former church interior over eight years, using hundreds of Woonsocket residents as models. Yankee Magazine later dubbed it the Sistine Chapel of America, and seasonal tours run on Sundays. On Monument Square, the 1926 Stadium Theatre survived the end of vaudeville and a long closure before a 2001 restoration; it now books national acts alongside community productions. The Museum of Work and Culture walks visitors from a Québec farmhouse into the mills that drew thousands of French Canadian families south. Autumnfest closes the season each Columbus Day weekend with carnival rides, craft booths, and fireworks. Woonsocket rewards travelers who like their art with mill-town history attached.

Eight Towns, One Small State

What links these eight towns is less geography than staying power. Newport has drawn visitors to its mansions for more than a century, and Gray’s has scooped at the Tiverton crossroads since 1923. Woonsocket’s frescoes and Wickford’s 18th-century streets reward an afternoon as readily as Newport’s Cliff Walk does. The reputations came from different sources, mansions in one town, a wildlife refuge in another, an art festival in a third, but each holds up to a close look. That is what keeps them on the lists.