The Georgetown (Iron) Meteorite

Have you ever been lucky enough to see a shooting star?
What you are actually looking at is a meteor or space rock 'burning up' as it enters the Earth's atmosphere. Usually meteors vaporise upon entry, but if they are big enough they survive the journey and hit the Earth's surface. This is when they become known as meteorites.

After several days prospecting with metal detectors, the men were excited to receive a strong signal.

Unsure as to whether it would be a gold nugget or a rusty old horseshoe they began to dig.

After substantial digging they were initially disappointed to discover what seemed to be just an ordinary rock. They contemplated discarding it but couldn't shake the feeling it might in fact be something 'out of this world'!

What they had in fact found was the largest piece of the Georgetown (iron) meteorite ever discovered.

Weighing in at 24.3kg and belonging to the Iron IAB-ungrouped complex, it is mainly composed of iron and nickel.

It is one of only six officially confirmed, named, and classified examples of this rare type of meteorite in the world.

Upon close inspection, Geoscience Australia curator Steven Petkovski identified that it was in fact an incredibly large and spectacularly rare example of an iron-nickel meteorite.

Here it will educate and inspire new generations of Australians who visit the National Mineral & Fossil Collection. It will also be available for scientific researchers to further the knowledge we have about the formation and history of our solar system.

Studying these types of meteorites improves our understanding of how planets like Earth formed from collisions and mergers between smaller bodies in the earliest days of the solar system.

So what can you do if you suspect you've found a meteorite?

There are a number of resources available online including this meteorite self-check list.