Seekers come up short in hunt for meteor seen in central Victorian night sky

Australia Broadcast Center

7 hours ago

Researchers are "disappointed" after a meteorite muster returned meagre results, but say they will continue to scour the area for space treasure.
A group of five scientists took to paddocks near Dunolly in central Victoria on Tuesday combing the area after the meteor fell to Earth the night of August 10.
The spectacular event lit up the night sky across the region and created sonic booms that rattled houses, with reports of the rare sight flooding social media in the aftermath.
Monash University researchers formed line searches across four properties this week, ultimately coming up empty-handed.
Determined planetary geologists and the lead meteorite geochemist for the Desert Fireball Network, Rachel Kirby, said the show was not over yet.
"[We'll do some more] land searches. We're trying to tee up if we could get a drone."
The Desert Fireball Network (DFN) is made up of cameras across the country, primarily in the southern states, to track meteors as they fall.
The network includes 50 fully autonomous digital observatories that continually monitor 3 million square kilometres of the sky at night.
It was through the DFN that Dr Kirby and her team were able to pinpoint where it fell.
"Then what happens is we are able to use the data from these really specialised cameras to triangulate where it likely fell on the ground," Dr Kirby said.
"Because obviously what you see in the sky is very different from what you find on the ground.
And what happens when — or if — the researchers find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
Dr Kirby said the small hunk of space rock could reveal some of the secrets of the universe.
"We will do scans of the entire rock — things like its shape and density and what it's like on the inside — and then we will break it open and sample the inside and start to really understand how and where it formed," Dr Kirby said.
Michael Brown is an observational astronomer at Monash University and was eager to join the hunt for the meteorite.
"I'm an astronomer so normally I get to see things from really far away. But, if I'm lucky, I might get to see [this one] close up," Mr Brown said.
"Often, like a lot of people, the work is analysing the data on the computer. So being out here and connecting with space and astronomy is really, really fun."
When asked what he would want the meteorite to reveal, if found and tested, Mr Brown reminisced about the early days of his career.
"I think, harking back to my research of meteorites from when I was a student, helping crack open how bits of material move around in our solar system would be particularly exciting," Mr Brown said.
Three Monash Unviersity students took up the call for adventure and joined Dr Kirby and Mr Brown in their hunt for the meteorite.
Arnika Filippi and Amelia Phillips are both science undergraduates at Monash University who said the field hunt was a valuable experience.
"Learning out in the field is so much better. It's so much easier, you really get that in-field experience," Ms Filippi said.
"They're space rocks, that's so cool," Ms Phillips said.
Joshua De Almeida is undertaking a masters in science and said the group was not deterred by the still-hidden meteorite.
"You can learn about this stuff in a book but actually finding it in the field — I have a greater appreciation for the systems that have been in place to get us here," Mr De Almeida said.
"It's so many people coming together to make all this possible. The search will continue."