A bright light accompanied by a loud sound was recently observed in the sky above Michigan. Researchers speculated that it was a meteor breakdown that caused the event. Following the event, a NewYork based resident named Darryl Pitt has stated that he will award anyone who brings him a chunk of this particular space rock which weighed around 2.2 pounds. The cash award is $20,000. Pitt is the curator for the Macovich Collection of Meteorites as well as meteorite consultant for an auction house named Christie.
The meteorite consultant described the extraterrestrial piece of rock as a winning lottery ticket. He also said that its time for enthusiastic treasure seekers to show their talent in hunting down a chunk of the meteor to make a great profit from the same. The Michigan meteorite was seen bursting in the southeast section of Michigan on January 16 which was a Tuesday night.
Pitt also advised the hunters to make it quick because eventually, they mix along with the rocks on Earth which will make it harder to be found. He is one of the largest collectors of meteorites all over the globe. He wants to acquire this very meteorite as well which means the more the prize money, the more eyes searching through the nook and corners of the area.
Pitt also confirmed that he will be hosting an auction for meteorites in a time span of two weeks. The identification of a particular search area by NASA gives the participants a greater chance to find the meteorite; however, the possibility for the same is very small. On Wednesday, NASA pointed out the possible location of the meteorite to be close to an area in the western periphery of a township named Hamburg located in Livingston County.
The head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, Willian Cooke, in Huntsville, Alabama stated that the chunks of the Michigan meteorite might have landed close to the western direction in an area 2.5 mile of Hamburg. NASA spotted the meteorite after 8 p.m. The seismic records obtained during the time indicated that some object was penetrating into the low altitudes of Earth. The meteor broke up about 20 miles before touching the surface of Earth. The accurate trajectory of the broken pieces is currently unavailable.
Pitt said this is one of the rare moments where he has offered a prize money for finding the meteor as the same has an almost accurate location to be found. Most of the space rocks end up in the ocean and rarely do some land on the ground which is mostly in the uninhabited regions making it hard to be acquired.
Each meteor varies in elements they are made up of but they contain answers to questions that come from a time from the when the universe was formed. Some meteors also consist of amino acids that are the basic elements for the existence of life. Pitt along with Cooke also said that anyone who wants to search the private properties should obtain a permit before doing the same.