I think about all the things that came to Bower Hill: the meteorite, the new stream, and the sandhill cranes. Bower Hill is the same but it’s different. We’re revolving around the sun five hundred and eighty-four million miles every year. The universe is too big to imagine, but from all that distance, it brought me a stone from the sky.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

What are the chances of finding a rock from space?

Henry’s uncle Lincoln would probably say the chances of discovering a rock from space (a meteorite) are 50 percent, either you will or you won’t! I’ve never found a meteorite myself, although I always keep an eye out for one. They’re easiest to spot in sandy deserts or on the snow in polar regions. It’s possible that you might see one fall to Earth. Or a meteorite could already be lying in your backyard or field or city street.

Are the Hoba and the Ahnighito real meteorites?

Yes! The iron Hoba meteorite, the largest one ever found, fell in Namibia, Africa, and weighs sixty tons. Because it was so heavy, it was never moved from where it fell. The Ahnighito, named “Tent” by the Inughuit, the people of northern Greenland, is the third-largest meteorite. It collided with Earth about 10,000 years ago, weighs thirty-four tons, and is made of iron-nickel alloy. It is on exhibit at the Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Visitors are able to see and touch its fusion crust and the two polished spots on its surface.

Many Inughuit feel the Tent/Ahnighito meteorite was taken from them by Admiral Peary without their consent, and they wonder what the economic situation in the area might be today if the meteorite had remained in the region. There is also the sad and disturbing history of the Inughuit people brought to New York City, along with the meteorite. Their stories can be found in the books Give Me My Father’s Body and Minik: The New York Eskimo: An Arctic Explorer, a Museum, and the Betrayal of the Inuit People by Kenn Harper.

Could a meteorite cause a flood?

Whether a meteorite could ever draw water from the ground is not known—that’s where I let my imagination take flight when writing this book. But some scientists believe most water on Earth was first brought here by asteroids and comets hitting the planet.

Could a space object from outside our solar system ever land on Earth?