The ranks of French amateur astronomers have been urged to help find an apricot-sized meteorite that fell to Earth last week in the south-west of the country.
The rock, which weighs about 150 grams (just over five ounces), was submerged in the atmosphere by a camera at an astronomy education facility in Maurice and was spotted at 10.43pm on Saturday near Eaglen, 100 km from Bordeaux. (62 miles) was approaching. .
The site is part of the Fireball Recovery and Interplanetary Observation Network (FRIPON) project of a nearly 100-camera Vigi-Siel (Sky Watch) aimed at locating and collecting 10 or more meteors that fall on France each year.
“Meteors are remnants of the formation of the solar system,” said Mikael Wilmart of the CL Overt (Open Sky) Astronomy Education Association, which operates the Mouroux Observatory.
He said, “Fresh meteors like this, which fell a few days ago, have not been changed by the Earth’s atmosphere and therefore contain very valuable information for scientists.”
The search is already underway but a call for help has been issued on social media, and posters have been put up in areas where the stone is likely to have fallen.
But Willmart acknowledged that the chances of success were slim.
“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.” “We really count people to see in their garden, or by the side of the road, they can only stumble upon this rock that was so badly wanted.”
