At 1.17 p.m. on 1 February 2019, a daytime bolide exploded over Vinales, Cuba, showering down meteorites on the local villagers. Seasoned meteor hunters flew the stones back to the Tuscon Gem Show in a now-defunct Inn Suites where, from my display room, I watched enviously as they broke the stones apart with a hammer and began to sell them for $100 per gram.
The hunters staved off competition by inventing wild stories about how the army had taken over, confiscating the meteorites and jailing hunters trying to take meteorites out of Cuba. But a few days later, a Russian hunting team brought 50kg to the show, selling them at $10 per gram. Soon after that, the locals flooded the market, flying the meteorites from Cuba to Panama to Florida, selling 20kg lots for as cheap as $1 per gram.
Hunters invented wild stories about how the army had taken over, confiscating the meteorites and jailing hunters trying to take meteorites out of Cuba
It was my first experience seeing a huge new fall come to market – and I promised myself not to miss the next opportunity. Sure enough, it came just a few months later, when another huge bolide exploded over a farming community in Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica, scattering a rare, scientifically important class of CM2 meteorite (the same class as the Murchison meteorite, famously found to contain ‘the building blocks of life’).
Hunters immediately began inventing stories again – this time that Nasa was showing up to purchase pieces for $1,000 per gram – creating an immediate buying frenzy for collectors. On the ground, I did some hunting, but it was much easier to set up a table and let the locals bring the stones to me. Half had meteorites, half had meteor-wrongs. Even kids lined up with river rocks and I’d give them a few colones just for their effort. Almost everyone who made the trip profited hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a few people made substantially more.
I dreamed that all falls would be like those two, but they turned out to be exceptional. It wasn’t just because of the huge volume of the exploding meteorites, but the fact that the pieces fell inside populated areas, with poor populations willing to spend all day searching for pieces and sell them for cheap. Although my partners and I found some success with the ‘community outreach’ in urban areas, on most hunts we had to work much harder for our payoff.
When people ask me how to find a meteorite, they seem to want a step-by-step guide. Unfortunately, such a guide would almost never work, because each hunt has a unique set of ground rules. Deciding where to hunt, for example, is a matter of how well you can trust your strewn field map – a map which depends on whether you’re relying on stones already found, on Doppler hits, or just on some theoretical trajectory of the bolide based on the AllSky cams (in which case you can’t even be sure if there are any rocks at all).
How to search depends entirely on the types of rock you are looking for (if you even know what you are looking for) and on the terrain itself. Large stones always travel further, so it would be pointless to search in deep grass on the shallow end of the strewn field or, conversely, to minutely canvass an area where you are searching for a 20kg chunk.
Sometimes the best course of action is to trust in the power of innovation. On one hunt, a large stone hit a highway and was then further broken and distributed by the passing trucks. Since not much else was found, the most fruitful searching strategy came from sticking magnets into the asphalt cracks and the grass next to the road (Steve Arnold, from the television show Meteorite Men, even bought a lawn mower to clear the grass).
My best advice is not to worry so much about the ‘tricks’ but instead to connect with the meteorite community. Meteorite hunters are notoriously tight-lipped and can be uninviting to hobbyists, but if you show up and prove your resolve, you’ll be welcomed as part of the family. Most importantly, come with an open mind and a willingness to accept the experience.
The real joy of meteorite hunting is exploring a new area and culture and sharing that experience with a community that shares your passion. Maybe you’ll find something, and maybe you won’t. But you’ll likely end up having had a few drinks and some good dinners, hearing some amazing stories and having developed some amazing friendships with people you’re sure to see again the next time you’re on a hunt.
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