14 DAY TRIAL // Only yesterday, the news that a meteorite landed in Russia's Chelyabinsk region made headlines.
While scientists are still trying to make head and tail of the whole incident, and while the country's authorities are doing their best in helping those injured as a result of the crash, meteorite collectors are racing to get their hands on as many bits and pieces of this space rock as possible.
As was to be expected, most of the meteorite collectors now heading towards Russia are not really interested in keeping the space rock fragments for themselves.
Quite the contrary: what sparked their interest in this meteorite crash is the fact that, by selling said fragments, they stand to make quite a lot of money.
According to Our Amazing Planet, it often happens that whatever meteorites make their way into earth's atmosphere get vaporized prior to their getting a chance to actually touch land.
However, it looks like this particular space rock was big enough for some of its fragments to actually make it all the way to the ground.
Commenting on this so-called out-of-this-world gold rush, as some refer to it, rock dealer Michael Farmer made a case of how, “This is the biggest event in our lifetime. I wouldn't miss this for the world.”
“It's very exciting scientifically and for collecting, and luckily, it looks like there will be plenty of it. I expect a lot of material to be on the market within days,” Michael Farmer went on to add.
Specialists explain that, for the time being, the monetary value of these meteorite fragments has not been determined.
However, once the scientists investigating this incident come forward with information concerning the meteorite's make up and rarity, sellers and buyers will be able to start their negotiations.
On the other hand, researchers hope that the meteorite will help them shed new light on the inner workings of the planetary system.
“By studying meteorites and determining where they came from, we can make a map of the early solar system, and that gives us a good handle on the origin of the whole planetary system,” argued Alan Rubin, a geology professor currently working with the University of California, Los Angeles.