Meteor seen over Great Lakes broke sound barrier, found on remote Canadian island

(FOX 2) – When it crash-landed on a remote island in the Great Lakes, the space rock that broke the sound barrier when it entered Earth’s atmosphere was several billion years old.

The first human hand to hold a piece of it was that of Dave Kenny.

“It’s been in space for 4.56 billion years, and now I’m picking it up off the ground. So there’s that thrill of discovery for sure,” he said.

From the moment it arrived, Kenny and his colleague Anton Clemens spent weeks planning a trip to collect his own slice of Canadian history. It took just over two hours before he and the meteor hunters he was with to find their first rock.

Meteor crashes over Lake Huron

The first signs of the meteor were on June 19, 2026, when witnesses spotted a fireball in the sky over Canada. It was widely seen in the province of Ontario around 8 p.m.

It was also seen in Michigan, Illinois, and other parts of the Midwest.

A meteor streaks across the sky over the Great Lakes. Courtesy Spray’s Landscape.

The backstory:

What made the sight so spectacular was that it fell during the day.

“What made this one very interesting is it occurred during daylight hours,” Kenny said. “Which means it had to be bright. Brighter than the moon to be visible.”

It also traveled fast enough that people heard it enter the atmosphere, suggesting it was big enough to produce shock waves.

The specific meteor was estimated to be approximately five feet across.

Kenny was on the west side of Canada in British Columbia when the meteor arrived. A member of a close-knit group of meteor hunters that span the Northern Hemisphere, he was told of the latest space rock within two hours of it arriving.

The team used witness reports and weather radar doppler data to narrow down the approximate location.

The teams eventually isolated their search to Cockburn Island, which is approximately 170 square kilometers and just east of Drummond Island in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

A meteorite piece weighing 24.4 grams found July 13. Photo courtesy Dave Kenny and Anton Clemens.

‘These things fragment, explode’

When meteors drop debris, they leave what’s called a “strewn field.”

Dig deeper:

The reason is tied to a difference in temperatures around the incoming space rock. While out in space, the material is super cold. As it enters the atmosphere, the exterior heats up. The temperature difference causes the object to shatter. 

“Also, it’s hitting a wall of air and that pressure causes it to shatter and drop lots of meteorites,” Kenny said.

Dave Kenny holding the first meteorite found July 11 with a weight of 57.6 grams. Photo courtesy Dave Kenny and Anton Clemens.

Searching for space rocks

When the search for the rocks started, the logistics behind the hunt became the biggest barrier to finding the pieces.

“There’s no ferry service,” Kenny said. “Do we get a boat somehow? Do we get a float plane? Costs will start adding up,” Kenny said.

Everyone flying in used Toronto for an airport, then drove up to Manitoulin Island. With the help of Kenny’s motorhome, which was parked nearby and was fully equipped, “the stars or the planets were lining up on this one.”

With the help of a friend of a friend, the meteorite hunters acquired a sailboat that would allow them to stay overnight for three days. 

On July 10, they arrived on west Manatoulin Island and the following day they were on Cockburn Island.

Photo courtesy Dave Kenny and Anton Clemens.

Isolated in the Great Lakes

Local perspective:

Very few people live full-time on the island. Anyone that does visit will for a few weeks over the summer, arriving via private boat. 

There’s also no service, no camping, but plenty of bears and mosquitoes. 

The vast majority of the island is privately owned by property owners and a conservancy group, meaning the only sections of the land where meteorite hunters could venture were the public roads and township roads.

Their hunt began at 10 a.m. and “by 12:23 p.m. we picked up our first meteorite.”

By the end of the hunt, they would find nine pieces of the original meteorite.

“I’ve been doing for about eight years. But this was really special because it was Canadian and Canadian meteorite are. Pretty rare. There’s only 72 different meteorites that have been recognized in Canada,” Kenny said.

Dave Kenny with a 55.2-gram meteorite find on July 13. Photo courtesy Dave Kenny and Anton Clemens.

Chondrite Meteorite

Big picture view:

Some of the finds were donated to museums while others were kept by Kenny.

A preliminary assessment determined the meteor likely came from the asteroid belt, which is one of the more common kinds of meteorites. Also known as a “chondrite meteorite”,

 it contains levels of iron and nickel-iron.

Anton Clemens examining a 55.2- gram find on Monday July 13. Photo courtesy Dave Kenny and Anton Clemens.