Michigan Meteoroid Explosion: What Every Meteorite Hunter Should Know About Collecting Fragments

If you were dazzled by the fireball explosion over the southeast Michigan sky Tuesday night and realized it was a meteor, you might want to head to the west of Hamburg Township in Livingston County, if you hope to locate meteorites.

According to the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office in Huntsville, Alabama, William Cooke, meteorites may be found in a 2.5-mile area west of Hamburg Township.

"If you look at the Township of Hamburg, there may be meteorites between Hamburg Township and Lakeland. It’s about a two-mile stretch along state road M-36. It passes through both Hamburg and Lakeland. It’s pretty precise," Cooke said, the Livingston Daily reported.

According to Cooke, the approximately 2-ton rock, 2 yards across, shattered about 20 miles from surface when it slammed into Earth's atmosphere at 28,000 miles per hour, creating a fireball thousands were able to witness.

Doppler radar signals in the area have led NASA to believe they are reflections off "meteoric dust from the fireball falling to the ground."

"The seismic signatures recorded by several seismometers in the regions and the noises heard by folk on the ground are indicative of an object penetrating to very low altitudes, which is characteristic of meteorite producers," Cooke added.

Cooke reminded meteorite hunters that chunks of the asteroid found belong to the owners of the property they fell on, and it could well be possible that they are worth money. Permission should be sought by property owners before searching a particular piece of land.

A 2012 Space.com article reported the Bureau of Land Management’s policy, under the U.S. Department of the Interior, regarding the collection of meteorites found on public lands, dividing it in to “use categories.” The three categories are:

• Casual collection of small quantities without a permit
• Scientific and educational use by permit under the authority of the Antiquities Act
• Commercial collection of meteorites through the issuance of land-use permits

Cooke explained meteorites may be attracted to magnets and can feel heavy for their size. "Most meteorites are typically quick small, and have a black fusion crust, which gives them a resemblance to charcoal," he said, according to Michigan-based MLive.

Cooke also said breaking of an asteroid is fairly a common phenomenon, happening about 10 times a year over the United States, and many have witnessed giant fireballs and flashes of light, however Tuesday’s event was unusual as it occurred over a densely populated area.

"The reason it is a big deal is because it occurred near a major city, Detroit," he said. "A lot of people saw this."

Initially, the U.S. Geological Survey reported a 2.0 magnitude earthquake at the very same time which led people to believe this was caused by the meteor. This was later clarified by a research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, William Yeck, who pointed out that meteors do not cause earthquakes to rupture along a fault, the Daily Mail reported.