(Newser)
– An apricot-sized meteorite is being sought somewhere near Aiguillon, France. Rooms at an astronomy facility in Mauraux observed the small space rock falling to Earth in southwestern France last weekend on guardian. The meteorite landed at 22:43 near Aiguillon on Saturday, about 60 miles southeast of Bordeaux, but no one has found it yet. And not out of lack of trial. Posters were placed around the area asking for help in finding the five-ounce rock and notifying residents of the precious goods in their midst. “A fresh meteorite like this, which fell just a few days ago, has not been altered by the Earth’s environment and therefore contains very valuable information for scientists,” said Mickael Wilmart, who belongs to the association that operates the observatory.
Meteorites, which usually have a bright, burnt exterior, are “relics of the creation of the solar system,” Wilmart said in a statement, according to the local. According to NASA, they “represent some of the original and diverse materials that formed planets billions of years ago.” Some even come from Mars. “We really rely on people looking in their gardens or along the way,” says Wilmart. “He might stumble upon this much-desired stone.” The Mauraux facility is part of a network of 100 cameras set up for the Sky Watch project, which aims to track and identify the approximately 10 meteorites that are believed to land in France each year, but success is not a guarantee. Even if we know the hard location of the meteorite, “it’s kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack,” says Wilmart. (This guy found a meteorite in the worst possible way.)