A space rock that landed in Maine is worth $25k to whoever finds it.
By Jessica Goudreault | Published
If you live in New England, you should drop everything to grab your metal detector and head to Maine. The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone who finds a space rock that recently crashed to Earth, according to The province. Meteorite hunters are already looking for the very expensive stone, so competition can be tough.
After tracking a fireball across the sky, NASA believes a meteorite fragment landed on the border between the United States and Canada, likely near Waite, Maine, and Canoose, New Brunswick. Searching for space rock in this area can prove difficult, as it is a very wooded area with lots of mud and trees. This type of terrain would offer plenty of good hiding places for extraterrestrial meteor pieces and make walking through the forest difficult.
A meteorite hunter named Roberto Vargas has been to this neck of the woods twice in search of the space rock. And yes, a meteorite hunter is a real term. This applies to those looking for meteors as a hobby or who do it full time for a living.
The best way to find meteorites is by using metal detectors and magnets to pick up pieces of iron rock in space, even if it’s underground. It is important to catch meteorites as soon as possible because they are usually buried under plant life or in the soil of the surrounding area within months of landing on Earth.
The museum is only looking for a one-kilogram specimen of the space rock, which is about the size of a bag of sugar or a pineapple. If you think you’ve found the meteorite, you can take it to the museum for testing, though there’s a fee. If it turns out to be the desired space rock, you should be able to afford the test after the $25,000 reward.
The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum (located in Bethel, Maine) is looking to add the new space rock to its already extensive collection of items. In addition to displaying the largest display of lunar and Martian meteorites on Earth, the museum also boasts that they have the largest piece of Mars—a 14.5-kilogram piece of the fourth planet from the sun. And if you’re looking for local jewelry, the museum sells necklaces, rings, and more made with Maine gemstones.
The reason for such a high reward value is that space rocks are often hard to find. In 2016, the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum offered a $20,000 reward for a similar meteorite that landed in Maine, this time near the Quebec border. The one-kilogram piece of meteorite has never been found, so hopefully, the extra $5,000 added to this reward will entice more meteorite hunters to find the space rock.
The reward for the new meteorite is not limited to Americans. Our neighbors to the north can also turn on the space rock to claim the $25,000 prize.
