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– A meteorite the size of an apricot is being searched for, somewhere near Aiguillon, France. Cameras from an astronomy facility in Mauraux last weekend observed the tiny space rock falling to Earth over southwestern France, according to the GuardianThe meteorite landed on Saturday at 10:43 pm near Aiguillon, some 100 kilometers southeast of Bordeaux, but no one has yet found it. And that’s not because of a lack of trying. Posters have been posted in the area asking for help in finding the five-ounce rock and informing residents of the precious resource in their midst. “A fresh meteorite like this one, which fell just a few days ago, has not been changed by the Earth’s environment and therefore contains very valuable information for scientists,” explains Mickael Wilmart, who belongs to the association that operates the observatory.
Meteorites, which usually have a shiny, burnt exterior, are “ remnants of the creation of the solar system, ” Wilmart said in a statement, per The Local. According to NASA, they represent “some of the original, diverse materials that formed planets billions of years ago.” Some even come from Mars. “We really count on people to look in their garden or along the roadside,” says Wilmart. “Maybe they just stumble over this rock that is so much wanted.” The Mauraux site is part of a network of 100 cameras assembled for the Sky Watch project, which seeks to track and identify the roughly 10 meteorites thought to land in France each year, but has been successful no guarantee. Even knowing the meteorite’s rough location, “it’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Wilmart says. (This man found a meteorite in the worst possible way.)