Calling All Meteorite Hunters: Maine Museum Offers $25,000 Reward for Space Rock

In penury of some extra cash ? Well then , debris off your meteorite hunting boot and get yourself to rural Maine . A geology museum in the Pine Tree State has a mission for you , and if you succeed the prize is pretty grownup .

The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum is offering a $ 25,000 reward to the first person to retrieve at least one kilogram of a fireball that fall over the province on Saturday April 8 , pera press releaseshared on Facebook . The museum , base in the town of Bethel , also says it will “ purchase any additional specimens found , ” and that such space clod could “ easy be deserving their weight in Au . ”

The “ evident meteorite nightfall ” happened around noon local clip , and was bright enough to be seeable during midday , pera NASA report — a tenuity for such an outcome , which are usually only observed at night . Eyewitnesses on the groundsaw the fireballacross the molding in Canada . Others in Maine reported learn sonic booms near the city of Calais , according to NASA , presumably as the chunks of space rocksped through Earth ’s atmosphere .

The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum’s existing meteorite collection boasts some impressive specimen, but the geology museum is enlisting the help of hobbyists and adventure-seekers to track down one more.

“ This is the first radar - observe meteorite fall view in Maine , ” NASA noted .

Radar captured multiple meteorites zipping towards the dry land just a few thousand feet above sea grade . From those datapoints , NASA calculated an estimated so - call “ strewn orbit , ” wherein the cosmic detritus in all probability put down . The largest bits of fallen distance rock most likely hail down in the immense expanse of forest between Waite , ME and Canoose in New Brunswick , Canada .

Though big meteorites , if they exist , are likely to be found nigher to Waite , the high likeliness locating for detect any of the blank space rock music is on either side of the Canadian border , notice the museum press release . For the most part , the area is dim cone-bearing timberland , which could make trailing down any bits of the fallen bolide very difficult .

This NASA map shows the estimated strewn field of Maine’s Saturday fireball, based on radar data. The red is where the largest objects may have fallen, while the yellow range represents smaller radar signatures.

Last year , 500 dissimilar bolide event were record in the U.S .. They are n’t inherently rare events . But recovering actual pieces of those meteorites is . Only a handful of meteorites are recover worldwide each year , as explain ina reportfrom the local Maine Press Herald . Hence why the geology museum has dulcify the pot with a small cold hard cash .

That order , the museum does call for that novice meteorite seekers do a little pre - enquiry on what they ’re bet for . There arelots ofresources availableonline on how to identify a meteorite . Afew tipsfrom the U.S. Geological Survey : Space stone are remarkably dumb , commonly magnetised , oddly determine , and often have a dark eggshell - comparable crust . Meteorites do n’t have bubble , contain easy - coloured crystals , or leave streaks when scratched against a ceramic Earth’s surface . well-chosen hunting !

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