An American museum is offering a reward of $25,000 (about 23,000 euros) to anyone who finds fragments of the meteorite that recently fell in a remote forest near the Maine-Canada border.
The first to find a relatively large fragment will receive a reward of 23,000 euros, according to a museum in the US state of Maine.
The exceptionally bright fireball was seen in broad daylight around 12 p.m. Saturday (5 p.m. Lisbon time), said Darryl Pitt, president of the meteorite division at the Maine Museum of Minerals and Gems. at Bethel.
NASA said the meteorite fall was observed on radar, a first for Maine, and witnesses heard loud explosions.
The museum wants to increase its collection of rocks from the Moon and Mars, Pitt said, having decided to award a reward to the first meteorite hunter to turn in a one-kilogram specimen.
According to Pitt, the fact that the radar detected the descent in flames ensures that the meteorites can be found on the ground.
“With more people becoming aware, the more people will look for him and the greater the chance that he will recover,” the official said Wednesday.
Still, there’s no guarantee that meteorites big enough to claim payment exist.
NASA reported on its website that “meteor masses calculated from radar signatures range from 1.59 g to 322 g (0.7 lb), although larger masses may have struck Earth.”
The pieces of space rock likely struck a strip of land stretching from the town of Waite, Maine, to Canoose, New Brunswick, Canada.
The US space agency noted that four radar readings found “signatures consistent with falling meteorites, seen at the time and place reported by eyewitnesses.”
The Maine Gem and Mineral Museum maintains an extensive collection of specimens, including the largest intact rock from Mars on Earth.
The museum is asking meteorite hunters to check the appearance of meteorites before looking for them, so they know what they’re looking for and avoid private property unless they have permission.
Pitt added that the museum is also looking to buy other specimens found by meteorite hunters, adding that these “could easily be worth their weight in gold.”
Source: TSF
