Maine Mineral Museum Is Offering Reward for Finding a Meteorite

Strewn area estimate calculated from radar signatures by NASA. The environmentally friendly line is the slide path. (Photograph: NASA)

Meteorites are interesting. These space rocks plummet by our atmosphere, burning away, and frequently shatter on effect. The remaining rock can keep components not located on Earth and even early proof of the beginnings of everyday living in the universe. For all they can educate us, finding and adequately gathering meteorites is essential to astronomy and other scientific fields. The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum is performing its section to progress our know-how of space by supplying a significant reward for a meteorite piece recovered from a distant portion of Maine on April 8, 2023.

On April 8, at 11:57 a.m. EDT, some observers in Maine caught a glimpse of a brilliant fireball higher than them. The meteorite was detected by NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Lab. American Meteor Society eyewitnesses also note the function, the 2,002nd of 2023. Even with the frequency of meteorites becoming sited, really couple of (all around 10) are recovered each calendar year. NASA calculated the strewn field wherever particles are likely to be identified alongside the Canadian border around Calais, Maine. The place is greatly wooded, and the fragments are possible to be darkish and charred. None have been recovered so considerably, but the museum would like to adjust that.

Darryl Pitt, head of the meteorite department, is interested in learning the parts. “Finding meteorites in woods of Maine. It’s not the most straightforward of the environments,” Pitt advised CNN. “It’s a sparsely populated space but not as sparsely populated as exactly where most meteorites fall—the ocean.” To incentivize this tough lookup, the museum is providing a reward of $25,000 for the to start with meteorite piece weighing 2.2 lbs . or a lot more. They may well be willing to pay out for lesser fractions, too. Pitt pointed out he was “guardedly optimistic” that intrepid amateurs would locate remnants.

For all those interested in attempting their hand at meteorite hunting, it can be important to stick to all wilderness protection protocols. Be confident to look at out guides from NASA on getting and managing meteorites thoroughly.

The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum is doing their part to progress our knowledge of place by providing a $25,000 reward for the initially piece weighing 2.2 lbs (or a lot more) from a meteorite that landed in a remote portion of Maine on April 8, 2023.

A meteorite from a strewn field in Algeria. (Photograph: thor H. Raab by means of Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.)

h/t: [CNN, Design Taxi]

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