Few things can beat the magical life experiences and friendships forged while hunting for meteorites. Finding a meteorite is an incredible and gratifying experience; but it is not easy, and often requires dozens of man-hours, hard-work, and money to travel anywhere in the world on a moments notice. To make hunting easier to understand, I will group it into two major categories : Falls and Finds.
HUNTING FOR FALLS: a meteorite 'fall' is a witnessed event that can happen anytime or anywhere on the planet. A fall is associated with a dramatic fireball, bolide, or meteor. Often times these events are witnessed by thousands of people and captured on cameras. With current technology we are able to use camera angles, Doppler radar, and seismic data to triangulate or pinpoint where meteorites may have landed. Once we have established a good search area we can set out to recover or 'hunt' for potential meteorites. It could be thought of as like searching for needles in a haystack - except the haystack can stretch across multiple cities or towns!
HUNTING FOR FINDS: a meteorite 'find' is an old or ancient meteorite that fell to earth in the past. These meteorites have been sitting on the surface or buried under the earth and can be thousands of years old. We travel to areas where meteorites have already been found or are easily searchable, such as remote deserts and playas.
Below are a few examples of some of the places I have had the privilege of hunting over the past decade, along with a few trip reports.
Copyright 2017 - M. Bandli - Photos may not be used without written permission
Other Expeditions and Hunts:
STUBENBURG, Germany
SUTTER'S MILL, CA
MIFFLIN, WI
SAM'S VALLEY, OR
FITZWATER PASS, OR
GOLD BASIN, AZ
ALVORD DESERT, OR