GRIMSBY, Ont. - A southwestern Ontario family has unwittingly found themselves at the centre of a rare scientific find.

Researchers from the University of Western Ontario have now recovered fragments from a meteorite that fell to Earth on Sept. 25.

The university appealed to the public last week as they believed the meteorite fell in the area of Grimsby, Ont.

That caused Tony Garchinski and his mother to take a second look at the rock that smashed through the windshield of her truck overnight on Sept. 25.

At first they had chalked the damage up to vandals, but had luckily saved the fragments and the university confirmed they were pieces of the meteorite.

Garchinski says it's "shocking" to think a 4.6-billion-year-old rock from outer space landed right in his driveway.