There’s a $20,000 reward for a piece of Tuesday morning’s meteor
The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum wants a specimen from the explosion.
Did you see the fireball that sailed across the sky early Tuesday morning? Did you happen to catch a piece of it as it broke up in the atmosphere?
If so, you could get a reward from the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum.
The museum in Bethel, Maine, is offering a $20,000 reward for the first one-kilogram meteorite recovered from the close encounter.
Based on hundreds of eyewitness accounts collected and analyzed by the American Meteor Society, scientists were able to pinpoint that the meteoroid entered Earth’s atmosphere over Maine, and it’s terminal explosion—the bright flash that most people witnessed, which usually coincides with fragmentation of the fireball—occurred about 30 kilometers, or about 18.6 miles, west of Rangeley, Maine.
“This is an exciting opportunity and we need the public’s help,” said Barbra Barrett, Mineral and Gem Museum director, in a press release.
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The first fragment will also receive a place of honor in the museum’s Meteorite Hall. As far as fireball observations go, museum officials confirm that the Tuesday morning sighting was huge. And if you’re lucky enough to be near its explosion site, you could get a huge reward.
If you missed out on spotting the meteor in action, you can see some on display when the Mineral and Gem Museum opens a planned exhibit in spring of 2017; the exhibit will showcase a meteorite collection featuring specimens of the moon, Mars, and more.
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