Source : Perth Now news
The meteor that lit up the skies over Western Australia in the early hours of Mother’s Day has been located in the Goldfields by an amateur meteorite searcher and police officer.
The meteor — dubbed the Mother’s Day meteor — flew through the skies on May 11, just before sunrise, catching eyes with bursts of orange and green light.
Reports of the object spanned much of the State, with the brightest reports and vision from the Wheatbelt and Goldfields regions.
Six days later, the meteorite was found in the Goldfields south of the Breakaways, 460km east of Perth.
It was found thanks to calculations from the Desert Fireball Network — a group of meteorite researchers from Curtin University — and the willpower of Ravensthorpe police officer Marcus Scott who reached it first on foot as the researchers separately flew overhead.
Mr Scott drove two hours to the potential site after seeing media reports of the meteor and seeing the estimated landing area.
His search lasted nearly four hours after trudging through dense bushland, and it wasn’t until he had just turned back to beat nightfall that he struck gold.
Mr Scott said he had been looking for meteorites for the past three years, and while he has found many in the past, none were quite as exciting as this one.
“It was good, I mean there was no dancing or anything but certainly I was aware of its importance,” he said.
“I’m aware that not a lot of people get to find what are referred to as falls, meteorites that have been witnessed when they’re coming in.
“I was aware of its importance and I’m happy to find a bit.”
The fact it was in a salt lake made the search easier as looking for an indent in the surface was a telltale sign, Mr Scott said.
“The fireball scientists put their estimate of where it was, I noted that most of it went through salt lake country which makes finding meteorites quite easy,” he said.
“Getting there was a struggle, very overgrown bush but once you’re out on the salt lakes it makes it a bit easier when you’re looking for something that’s punched a hole in the salt lake crust.”
The meteorite is expected to be collected for study so researchers can classify it and find out where it came from’
