Meteorite collecting + Sutter Mill fireball + Meteor/Fireball notices

Meteorite collecting has become a popular hobby and a big business worldwide. The pieces of the Ural fireball will no doubt become highly sought after by both collectors and scientists : Meteorites Could be Worth Big Bucks – RIA Novosti.

Find lots of information and web resources on meteorites in the Space Collectables section.

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A fireball  occurred above northern California on April 22, 2012 and meteorite hunters soon began combing the area. Now referred to as the Sutter Mill fragments after the local historical site, nearly 80 fragments were collected by volunteers for scientific analysis within a couple of days of the event.  The quick collection effort meant that there was less time for contamination of the samples, which was important since the object turned out to be a rare type of asteroid called a carbonaceous chondrite:

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Smaller scale fireballs and meteor trails happen somewhere in the world daily. There are various web sites and blogs devoted to reporting on the latest sightings. See, for example: