Museum Offers $20,000 Reward For Piece Of Meteor Seen Over New England
BETHEL, Maine (CBS/AP) – There's a big prize out there for anyone who can get their hands on part of a meteor that was seen streaking over New England early Tuesday morning.
Police dashcams and surveillance cameras captured the fireball lighting up the sky at about 12:50 a.m.
Last nights meteor captured by our awesome operations staff and security cameras! #meteor #avgeek #FlyBTV #weather pic.twitter.com/eVizu6uvdo
— Burlington Airport (@BTVAirport) May 17, 2016
The American Meteor Society reported more than 300 sightings in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and parts of Canada.
The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum suspects the meteor crashed into the woods of northwestern Maine, based on preliminary findings. It's offering a $20,000 reward if someone recovers a piece of the meteorite weighing at least 2.2 pounds.
Museum director Barbra Barrett told the Portland Press Herald she's hopeful witnesses can help locate pieces of the space rock.
"I think there's a real possibility here to recover the meteorite," Barrett said. "It's a unique opportunity for Maine the see and possibly recover a meteorite after seeing a fireball in the sky."
You never know what you are going to see on duty. Sgt. Farris was looking for speeders while parked in front of the central fire station and was able to observe some visitors "from away"....far away. The meteor (or alien spaceship) was caught on camera at approximately 0050 hours. Let's hope the visitors are friendly. They could just be some of Stephen King's friends on their way to visit him. Whomever they are I'm sure we could win them over with a whoopie pie. P.S. The voice on the video stating, "oh my God"! is from Ofc. Hults. Apparently he was amazed. #meteor #starwars #underthedome
Posted by Portland Maine Police Department on Tuesday, May 17, 2016
She can be reached at bbarrett@mainemineralmuseum.org.
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