Otago fireball on 28 August

The race is on to find a fireball which is believed to have landed somewhere near Dunedin.

A spectacular fireball was captured by night-sky cameras shooting across the Otago region on 28 August.

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Break out the metal detectors.

JW :cowboy_hat_face:

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Prob just ole Lammerlaw playing with a muzzle loader.

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Lee Stream farmer Tim Gray, said he had been approached by geologists asking to search his property for the space rock, and about 20 had been on the farm throughout yesterday following maps and data, trying to locate where it fell.

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No Graeme behaved himself last weekend. Was too busy finding gold but did spend a day replacing a window he blew out from playing with things that go BANG from a wee while back. :shushing_face:

JW :cowboy_hat_face:

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Who benefits if they find it?

JW :cowboy_hat_face:

Well It is possible it has made touch down near lammerlaws. I heard the sonic boom from it. It sounded like rolling thunder. So there has only ever been 9 meteorite recovered in nz. I do wonder where lammerlaws microspherules(C60 Buckminsterfullerines) fit into the picture?

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Yep I need some putty as I bought a new pane of glass for the second window that disappeared! Heading up to repair it and look for trespassers and iron pyrites.

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Hope drone will find meteorite

A global effort is refining the search for a meteorite believed to have struck the earth near Dunedin last week.
University of Otago master’s student Thomas Stevenson is stitching together 1005 aerial images he took with a drone to re-create a 4 sq km search area on a Lee Stream farm — southeast of Middlemarch, northwest of Outram — which he hopes will reveal the crash site.

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Cool, a visitor from outerspace. I would be out there looking for it if i could.
They have a magnetic field around them, or is that only a stealy meteorite compared to a stony meteorite.

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I must admit i wondered if this fireball was related the launch of a rocket that occurred alarmingly close to the later sighting of the “fire ball”

I have become a slightly more suspicious person as I have got older.
I will endeavor to upload an article that shows how close these events were

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Interestring thought - hmm maybe everyone should be looking for a desicated and p-artially incinerated Monkey or do they put Monkeys and dogs up into space now!

It is a possibility though and one I had not thought of that it might be something like that or a US satellite that has coem downa nd they dont want to admit it so blame it in a fireball…I doubt it but in this political day and age of deception anything could happen.

Meteorite that plummeted onto Otago farm could be three times bigger than thought

Scientists now believe a meteorite that crashed onto an Otago farm could weigh up to 30kg, three times their original estimate – but that it may have broken up into fragments.

Stevenson hoped to boost their search party numbers with members of the public, especially schoolchildren, who could get involved by contacting Fireballs Aotearoa through its website.

https://fireballs.nz/

Hey guys, I’m one of the geologists at Otago Uni that helped organize the first search. We are now in the midst of organizing a second and much larger search that the public can join. Transport from Dunedin to the site via bus will be provided - we wont be distributing the precise location at this stage (although I think it has been leaked already). We are hoping to get out there on Friday and Saturday but the farm is currently covered in snow so hopefully it will melt by then.

If you would like to join, you need to email Marijn at the Otago Museum (Marijn.Kouwenhoven@otagomuseum.nz) by noon Wed 7 Sept to confirm which day(s) you can attend, with your contact details (name, email, and mobile contacts for all searchers).

If found this will be the NZs 10th meteorite and could be extremely valuable to science so we would hope that it gets handed over to the Otago Museum. The Geology Department currently has a meteorite research program underway and we are about to publish some research on the Auckland meteorite that fell through someones roof in 2004. Therefore, we are in a good position to study this new meteorite if it is found.

Cheers.

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Fairly sure it landed on their lounge…
Glad it wasn’t mine as thats where i hang out…

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So… the location of impact has been found? I can bring a metal detector.

JW :cowboy_hat_face:

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Maybe a few of us could form a team with our detectors…I have put my name down to help look for it on Friday and Saturday. Gold miners are pretty good at finding lost items. Back in the old times the miners would play games by hiding an item such as a gold watch and see who could divine it’s location. It was about visualising the item and following your nose. Also the use of divining rods for a more tangible indication.

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Do all meteorites respond to a metal detector… im sure if you put an earth magnet against one there will be a slight connection, or something.

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Nah they don’t always, but it is usual, very likely, for there to be some Iron in the stony ones, and it’s possible for it to be entirely Iron/Nickel alloys, won’t know for sure until they find some of it. I’d be there myself but I didn’t catch word in time to get a plan sorted out.

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Hi Shane. Only if they have a metallic element. Usually nickel /iron, I think. The metallic ones are most likely the ones that survive their entry through earths atmosphere & hit the earth. I don’t know much about them but in the States there is a strong following of detectorists who hunt them exclusively in the Arizona desert.

JW :cowboy_hat_face:

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