Scientists Ecstatic Over Meteorite that Landed in Marin

"Novato" is no longer just a city in Marin County. For scientists, it's a "gift from heaven."

Novato is the name given to the golf ball-sized chunk of "metallic chondrite" that hit a Marin County home in 2012 -- otherwise known as the marvelous meteorite of Marin County.

The Marin Independent Journal reports that scientists are excited over the find because it's one of the few meteorites studied that wasn't weathered by months or years outside -- instead, it went straight from falling out of the sky to falling into the hands of researchers.

Scientists believe the meteorite was once part of a much larger celestial body that collided with Earth to create the moon. That would peg the little rock in the area of 4.5 billion years old.

The rock is now in the hands of the SETI Institute, who received it after being donated by the neighbor of the woman whose roof the meteorite hit.

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