Hunting for a cosmic needle in a haystack
It came from the inner solar system and travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres through space before ending its journey in a fiery explosion above Canterbury.
Fireballs Aotearoa scientists have pinpointed a meteorite’s landing zone to an area of 1km by 3km and the hunt is on in the Mackenzie Country.
The group, whose aim is to recover freshly fallen meteorites, reported the fireball on March 13, about 9pm above North Otago and South Canterbury.
If discovered, the space rock will be the 10th found in New Zealand — and the first in 20 years since a meteorite crashed through the roof of an Auckland home in 2004.
University of Otago geologist Marshall Palmer, who is helping coordinate the hunt, said the meteorite was unique in that it came from the inner solar system close to the sun.
Most detected meteorites came from the asteroid belt beyond Mars.
“Between Earth and the Sun is where it’s come from, normally rocks in that zone would just end up getting pulled into the Sun.
“But in this case, it hasn’t and it’s made its way here,” he said.
Fireball Aotearoa’s camera network captured the rock entering Earth’s atmosphere at an elevation of 90km to 25km, and its speed slowed from 18km a second to 5km a second during that period.
“Orbital trajectory data indicates the rock originated from an unusual inner solar system orbit,” the group wrote in a social media post.
“Calculations by Fireballs Aotearoa indicate 0.5kg of the rock survived its dramatic journey through Earth’s atmosphere and is now lying somewhere in the Mackenzie Country.”
Palmer said it was too early to know if the meteorite left a crater and it could be in scattered pieces.
It would either be rock or a hunk of metal, he said.
A day-long search has been organised by Fireballs Aotearoa on Thursday around Lake Takapo¯/ Tekapo to find the cosmic object.
Leaders of the search have completed a reconnaissance visit and are now preparing for a proper search involving the public.
The search is taking place only within Department of Conservation land.
The search will leave Tekapo at 8.15am.
Participants can check Fireballs Aotearoa’s social media pages for a list of what to bring, and can contact fireballsaotearoa@gmail.com for more information.