I know @Ken Anderson lives in Maine, but I'm not sure if anyone else here lives in Maine or the surrounding areas. I saw a post the other day about the possible meteorite. A police patrol car apparently captured it on video, and I saw it posted on Twitter, so followed that up and found this story about a Maine museum that is offering a finder's fee for the actual meteor, or at least part of it weighing over a kilogram. I didn't realize the phenomenon was visible for such a large distance, but apparently whatever the item was, it was visible from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and parts of Canada. I wasn't aware of the museum prior to this incident, but although offering a reward is nice, and I'm sure the museum would love to get their hands on the item and display it, this is also a nice way to increase awareness of the museum. If you live in the affected areas, did you witness the event? If so, what did you think of it? Here's a link to the story: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/na...s_fee_maine_museum_offers_20000_for_meteorite
I am sure that some people who saw it fall and maybe heard the crash will be out there searching for this meteorite ! They can be very valuable, and are priced in grams, which is pretty small increments. The $20,000 might be a lot less than it is worth if it is the righ kind of meteorite. All meteorites are considered to be rarer than gold, but some of them are much more valuable than others. From the pictures of this one going through the night sky, it might have been fairly large, and definitely worth finding if a person has any idea of where they should look. The one that I saw in Idaho was huge and a beautiful green color, and a long streak across the sky, and then a crash that shook the ground around me. I was outside feeding the horses when it came over, so I actually saw it flaming acros the sky. My son, who lived on the other end of the property was inside and didn't see it; but he felt the crash shake his house. http://www.aerolite.org/articles/how-much-is-a-meteorite-worth.htm
@Yvonne Smith Were you able to go see where it landed? I've never seen anything larger than a shooting star, and seeing those always thrills me. If someone does find it and it's large enough and in several pieces, they could perhaps sell part to the museum, since they stated 1 kg in weight for that finder's fee, and keep or sell the rest to others. I think I'd enjoy having something like that, although of course I could use the money. If I'm ever up in that area, I would like to visit the museum, it sounds interesting.
For some reason they seem like they tend to hit in Arizona and in the Southwest a lot. You really don't hear much about them striking areas in the East. It would be exciting to see one come down, but from a safe distance of course. Earth is really pretty lucky with dodging objects falling from the sky. Lucky for us. It is really fun to watch shooting stars. I have seen plenty as a kid when sleeping outside under the stars.
You're right about that @K E Gordon. I'd forgotten about the 2013 hit in Russia until you mentioned how lucky we are most of the time. It seems we hear more about people being injured by planes or items related to planes falling from the sky, than by actual meteorites. According to National Geographic, "The event injured about 1,500 people and damaged thousands of buildings in a part of central Russia that is home to one million people. (See "Russian Meteorite's Fiery Entry Captured by Satellites.")" - this refers to the Chelyabinsk incident on February 15, 2013, which they're referring to as a meteor airburst. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...ian-meteor-chelyabinsk-airburst-500-kilotons/