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Meteorite hunter


A meteorite hunter is a person engaged in the search for meteorites. Meteorite hunters may be amateurs who search on the weekends and after work, or professionals who recover meteorites for a living. Both frequently use tools such as metal detectors or magnets to discover the meteorites.

If the meteorite is of the iron or stony iron variety a magnet (usually mounted at the end of a stick) will pick it up from the soil surface or a metal detector will often detect it through many inches of soil. Stony meteorites —which make up the large majority of meteorites that fall— may not have a high enough nickel iron content to set off a metal detector. Large and very sensitive metal detectors may be used as well as ground-penetrating radar, lidar, and even landmine detectors.

Although meteorites fall uniformly across the globe they do not typically remain on the surface in areas with a large amount of yearly rainfall. If a newly fallen meteorite is not recovered within a few months it is likely to be buried with alluvium or covered by plant growth. Some arctic and desert regions have proven to be well-suited to preserving meteorites, and can provide excellent surfaces for hunting visually.

Meteorites can be very valuable to scientists studying planetary science and to collectors. Individual stones may weigh mere grams or hundreds of kilograms. Their values vary widely based on rarity and composition, as well as the conditions in which they are found.

In the United States, most state laws state that a meteorite find belongs to the landowner of the land upon which the meteorite was found. This doctrine contrasts with the once-predominant rule in state courts on the finding of treasure trove, where buried gold or silver coinage (or paper money representing the same) is deemed to belong to the finder.

Many state courts have interpreted their laws as granting the state sole title to any meteorite recovered on state-owned lands.

United States laws and enforcement of laws regarding recovery of meteorites on federally owned public lands is unsettled. With respect to large meteorites, the federal government has asserted title to all such meteorites if proven to be found on federal land, because:

This policy derives from cases as far back as 1944, when the federal government seized the Drum Mountain Meteorite in Utah from a group of interned Japanese-American U. S. citizens. The federal government has sometimes agreed to negotiate sometimes negotiating a small finders fee for large meteorites, but has never agreed to pay anything resembling full market value of the meteorite to the discoverer.


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Wikipedia

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