astronomy for hobbyist
Maine Museum Offers $25,000 Reward for Meteorite Fragments from Fireball that Landed in US Last Week
A Museum is offering a $25,000 reward for the remains of a meteorite that landed near the US-Canada border last week.
Last week, a fireball streaked across the sky and landed near the border between the US and Canada. The meteorite was visible in broad daylight and created a sonic boom.
NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Lab was able to calculate the “strewn field” where fragments of the meteorite might be found.
A museum in Maine, the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum, is now offering a reward of $25,000 for the remains of the space rock. Darryl Pitt, head of the museum’s meteorite division, is keen to study any fragments of the meteorite, which could contain valuable information about the origins of the solar system.
The $25,000 reward is for the first meteorite piece found that weighs 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) or more, but the museum is willing to pay for any specimen “irrespective of its size”.
Worldwide, only eight to 10 meteorites are recovered each year out of hundreds of fireballs seen falling to Earth. The Maine meteorite was visible for more than four minutes, and winds might have carried smaller meteorites across the border into Canada.
Anyone who finds a meteorite should contact the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum.
The source for this news is CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/americas/meteorite-maine-museum-reward-scn/index.html
https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/