You will receive €22,720 if you find this recently crashed meteorite

All the treasure-hunting astronomers are on a plane to the United States. The Mineral and Gem Museum of Maine is offering a minimum reward of €25,000. Why? To track down a meteor that shot like a ball of fire across the clear sky before crashing into the woods of the US state.

Last week, casual onlookers around Calais, Maine, were lucky enough to witness a rare space spectacle. according to NASA The meteor was visible for about 4 minutes in broad daylight, around noon on April 8th. In addition, the surrounding area was shocked by the sonic boom as the fireball hit the ground.

The museum offers $25,000 to discover the meteorite

But despite the loud, startling meteor entry, no one can locate the space debris. And since the scarce material can not only make a tidy sum, she wants Maine Mineral and Gem Museum Award a $25,000 prize to the treasure hunter who finds the meteorite first.

The museum claims to have “the largest collection of lunar and Martian meteorites in the world” and this unique nearby impact would of course be a great addition. The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum is also keen to study any meteorite fragments, considering they may contain valuable information about the solar system. The $25,000 reward is the first meteorite weighing 1 kilogram or more. in CNN A museum spokesperson said the museum was willing to pay for any specimen “regardless of size”.

It can run into millions

However, the environment complicates the search. The wooded area near the Canadian border where the meteor is supposed to fall is a very poor place to accurately predict, let alone find. Fortunately, treasure hunters can turn to Veronica Tolinar for just that.

A Dutch glaciologist from the University of Brussels ULB recently made a detailed treasure map of all the meteorites in Antarctica. Based on the detailed map, the Belgian expedition found five large meteorites. The largest specimen weighs more than 8 kilograms, depending on the material It could be worth millions. Read more about this in our interview with a PhD student.