Josua Hutagalung sold the meteorite for more than a million pounds.
An Indonesian man became a millionaire overnight after a meteor crashed through his roof. Josua Hutagalung, 33, is a Sumatran coffin maker who became astronomically richer after he recently sold the meteorite for more than 1 million pounds, or roughly Rs 9.8 crore.
Hutagalung was working outside his home in August when the 2.1 kg space rock smashed through the tin roof of his terrace.
“The sound was so loud that parts of the house were shaking too. And after searching, I saw that the tin roof of the house had been broken,” he told the Kompas news outlet at the time. “When I picked it up, the stone was still warm.”
He shared photos of the meteorite on Facebook, where they created a wave of interest.
According to The Independent, the meteorite is carbonaceous chondrite, an extremely rare variety estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. It is reportedly worth around 645 pounds (roughly 63,000 rupees) per gram.
Josua Hutagalung has sold the stone to a specialist collector: Jared Collins from the US Collins has reportedly resold it to collector Jay Piatek, who has stored it in liquid nitrogen at the State University Center for Meteorite Studies from Arizona.
Hutagalung did not reveal the exact amount he was paid for the rare rock, which has magnetic properties. However, he indicated that the amount exceeded one million pounds.
With the money he has received, estimated at the equivalent of 30 years of his salary, he plans to retire and build a new church in his village.
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