The hunt is on for a little piece of heaven that made history in Maine over the weekend — for the first time, a falling meteorite was spotted by radar in the state, NASA said.
The space rock — rocks, actually, since it appears to have broken up — fell near the border with Canada just before noon on Saturday, bringing along, according to witnesses, a fireball visible in the middle of the day and audible sonic booms.
The fireball was spotted as far away as Penobscot, south of Bangor, according to reports from the American Meteor Society, which tracks fireballs seen in Earth's sky.
"Ball was bright red and smoke trail was very white and it was so bright—especially against the clear blue sky," according to the Penobscot viewer observer.
Radar observed pieces of meteorite as large as 322 grams, or, 11 oz., according to NASA, though larger rocks could have fallen as well. They are believed to have landed along a wooded stretch of land north of Calais that crosses the U.S.-Canada border, spanning from the town of Waite, Maine, to Canoose, New Brunswick.
And the first person who finds a piece of the meteorite that's a kilogram or bigger can bring it to the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum for a $25,000 reward, according to the Portland Press Herald.
"There's a very good likelihood that whatever is recovered could be worth its weight in gold," said Darryl Pitt, who leads the museum's meteorite division, to the newspaper.
Get updates on what's happening in New England to your inbox. Sign up for our News Headlines newsletter.
The fact that radar detected the fiery descent assures the meteorites can be found on the ground, though there's no guarantee there are any meteorites big enough to claim the payout, Pitt told The Associated Press. He said the museum is also looking to purchase any other specimens found by meteorite hunters.
The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum maintains an extensive collection of specimens, including the largest intact Mars rock on Earth. The museum is asking meteorite hunters to brush up on what meteorites look like before searching, so they know what they're looking for, and avoid private property unless they have permission.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
