Museum Offering $25,000 Reward for Fragment of 'Incredibly Rare' Fireball That Flew Over Maine
"Depending upon the type of meteorite this is, specimens could easily be worth their weight in gold," said a museum official
A meteorite was seen shooting through the sky between Maine and Canada on Saturday, and a local museum is offering a reward for the first substantial piece of it.
The fast-moving fireball created a sonic boom and was visible during the daytime, which allowed NASA officials to track it and predict the location for where its remains might be found, according to CNN.
Now, the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum is offering a $25,000 reward for the first remnant that weights 2.2 pounds or more, they announced on social media.
As a helpful guide on where to look, the museum shared that "the strewn field is projected to be just north of Waite, Maine to over the Canadian border directly west of Canoose, New Brunswick."
And even though the museum is located in the United States, they say that the reward is open to Canadians as well.
Of course, even having a general idea of where fragments can be found doesn't mean the search will be easy.
"It's a sparsely populated area but not as sparsely populated as where most meteorites fall — the ocean," Darryl Pitt, who heads up the meteorite division at the Museum, told CNN, adding that "finding meteorites in woods of Maine" isn't "the simplest of the environments."
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This particular meteorite was rare in that it made its appearance during the day — and was bright enough to be visible in the sunlight. (These occurrences are primarily visible at night.)
"Most fireballs that are witnessed are usually seen at night -- their light easily contrasting against the night sky," the museum wrote on social media of the unusual event. "This fireball being seen during the day is incredibly rare; imagine how bright it would have been at night."
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"The existence of positive Doppler radar returns — meteorites detected descending through the atmosphere just several miles above ground — assures us there are meteorites waiting to be found, Pitt said in a press release.
Additionally, the museum said they'll purchase other fragments of the fireball. "Depending upon the type of meteorite this is, specimens could easily be worth their weight in gold," Pitt said in the release.
First-time meteorite hunters are encouraged to "first go to meteorite identification sites on the internet so they know what they're looking for," the museum says. It also encourages people to ensure they have permission from their landowning neighbors before searching on private property.
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