Experts have scoured hundreds of kilometres of salt flats deep in the West Australian outback to find pieces of meteorite that lit up the night sky over Perth and other parts of the state.
Researchers from Curtin University used advanced weather modelling to predict the meteorite had landed in Lake Hope – about a seven hour drive east of Perth – after its Mother’s Day night light show.
The Desert Fireball Network has a network of cameras all around the country designed to take pictures of really bright fireballs.
“We did some pretty advanced, like, weather modelling as well to figure out, once it slowed down enough, how would it be affected by the wind,” planetary scientist Dr Hadrien Devillepoix said.
Once they arrived, they walked across salt flats for more than seven kilometres before making a discovery.
“We found a meteorite, wow that’s amazing,” Mia Walker can be seen exclaiming in exclusive 9News vision of the search.
They discovered two chunks of space rock, including one that was among the largest they’d ever found.
“Here’s a piece of space rock that’s been travelling the solar system for four and a half billion years,” Devillepoix said.
“And now it’s in our hands and we can use it for science, that’s so exciting.”
The samples will now be taken to a lab so researchers can determine what type of meteorites they are and where in space they came from.
