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An apricot-sized meteorite is being sought somewhere near Aiguillon, France. Cameras at an astronomy facility in Mauraux spotted the small space rock that fell on the earth over southwestern France Guardian. The meteorite landed near Aiguillon, about 60 km southeast of Bordeaux, at 22:43 on Saturday, but no one has found it yet. And it’s not for lack of trying. Posters have been put up in the area asking for help finding the five-ounce rock and informing residents of the precious commodity in their midst. “A fresh meteorite like this, which fell a few days ago, has not been altered by the Earth’s environment and therefore contains valuable information for scientists,” explains Mickael Wilmart, who is part of the observatory’s association.
Meteorites, which usually have a shiny, burnt exterior, are a relic of the creation of the solar system, ‘Wilmart said in a statement to Local. According to NASA, they represent “some of the original, diverse materials that formed planets billions of years ago.” Some even come from Mars. “We really trust people to look in their gardens or along the road,” Wilmart says. “They might just stumble upon this rock that is so longed for.” The Mauraux facility is part of a network of 100 cameras put together for the Sky Watch project, which seeks to detect and identify the ten or so meteorites thought of annually in France. Even seeing the meteorite is a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack, ‘says Wilmart. (This man found a meteorite in the worst possible way.)