Anyone Who Goes And Looks For Pieces Of This Meteorite (Even If The Reward Pays 25K) Is A Lunatic With No Chance Of Actually Finding A Piece
NPR- A rare fireball was spotted streaking across the northern Maine sky in broad daylight last week. Experts hoping to study the meteorite are now offering a financial reward to anyone who can recover a piece of it. NASA says this was the first radar-observed meteorite fall ever seen in Maine. Shortly before noon on Saturday, eyewitnesses reported seeing a bright fireball over New Brunswick, Canada, followed by "loud sonic booms" near Calais, Maine. That's especially unusual because most fireballs are spotted during the night, when their light contrasts against the dark sky, as the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum noted in a Wednesday Facebook post.
"This fireball being seen during the day is incredibly rare; imagine how bright it would have been at night," it added.
The museum, which is home to the world's largest specimens of the moon and Mars, is offering $25,000 for the first 1 kilogram of meteorite found — but is willing to purchase other fragments, too.
"Depending upon the type of meteorite this is, specimens could easily be worth their weight in gold," said Pitt.
The museum says people are most likely to find specimens "directly west of Canoose straddling the border," and that the reward is also open to Canadians.
The headline is that a super rare meteorite was seen in broad day light and anyone who can find pieces of it can get cash for 25k. Now that seems like a feel good story right ? I'm hear to be the Debbie Downer and say that anyone who actually thinks they have a PRAYER of finding a piece of this thing AND anyone who thinks they will get paid off this is a delusional nutcase. Let me tackle the first part of actually finding a piece first.
Let's be honest with each other, you can read all the instructions, you can be told where to look , you can be told what to look for , and if you don't know shit about the thing you are looking for aside from the half hour of reading you did on it (right before you went to go look for the thing) you have no shot to find it. Don't believe me ? If you aren't a handy a person and walk into Home Depot do you magically think you will just obtain the knowledge to find what you need ? Didn't think so. Go ask the guy to help you, if you don't you are a dope and will get home find out it's the wrong thing not be able to return it because you opened it, and have to go back to the store , then waste money buying the actual thing you needed in the first place. I would again like to remind people of that because just because you got a description of what a piece of meteorite actually looks like you don't know what it looks like. Also , the museum itself is saying finding these pieces are really difficult.
NPR- Meteorites tend to be heavy and magnetic, with shallow depressions (but not holes) on their surface and densely packed interiors. They can be irregularly shaped, and usually have a smooth rather than scratchy exterior.
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Experts at the University of Alberta recommend these four tests: Check if the specimen feels unusually heavy for its size, test its magnetism using a refrigerator magnet, check for holes and bubbles, and examine the outer layer for a thin, black eggshell-like crust.
If the rock passes all four, it may be a meteorite. But it may not be from Saturday's fireball, as the museum warns: "Specimens exhibiting advanced botanical matter are not from this fireball event!"
4 TESTS for random idiot citizens to conduct themselves ? What are we talking about here, you have to be a lunatic to waste your time on this stuff. How can you possible justify digging in the woods, or walking miles on end looking for something you have no idea about. This is what people do in their spare time ? How are you not sure you will just find a regular old rock and completely waste your time ? Or be embarrassed when you show up to the museum with a dried up piece of horse shit ? Get a hobby.
Lastly, let's say you actually find something that is a piece of meteorite. You haul your ass to the museum and get the meeting (which you have to pay to set up yourself).
NPR- For one, the museum's research lab technologist is able to test specimens for identification by appointment only, a process that costs money and takes five-10 business days to yield results.
You think this crooked ass museum is going actually admit you found it and pay you ? No chance. Any normal citizen can be told what they have is not actually a piece of meteorite for literally any reason. The museum can say "it's the wrong color, it's too big, it's too round." And Joe the carpenter will say "You sure ?" , then the museum will double down and say nope can't pay you, and every regular jerk will have to just take it. The other outcome I see is the museum telling the jerk who actually found the piece that it's not the meteorite BUT the tech or the rep will pay out of their own pocket a few hundred to hold it for testing for something else. The average jerk will take the couple of hundred payout thinking it's a win, and the museum rep will hide the rock under their desk , sneak it out of work give it to their uncle to bring in the next day for the real 25k payout. Dirty dirty business.
Whether you agree with that shady aspect or not is one thing, but I hope we can all agree that wasting a day or days out in the fields looking for of all things …A METEORITE of all things is lunatic behavior.