December 10th brought the United States its last fall of the year. The American Meteor Society received 48 reports from across 5 states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Montana and Wisconsin, for an event at 4:05 AM local time accompanied by sonic booms. The event was recorded by multiple doorbell cameras and showed prominent fragmentation flashed. By late morning the local news channels were talking about the event and its meteoric origin. A day later and the first confirmed meteorite finds were being reported. Below are some Q&A with a few of the finders, along with shots of their finds. My hat is off to their dedication to hunting this one, it looked like a cold hunt. So far multiple kilos have been found, and the hunt is still on at the time of this writing.
Questions:
What got you into meteorites and how long have you been collecting?
Jennifer Black: I’m so glad you asked! I have been interested in meteorites for around 5 years now and started to watch as many Topherspin Meteorites [videos] as they put out there to learn about them. It was difficult for me to understand, and I have a LONG way to go still but I’m coming along I think.
Paul Fiscus: I saw the northern lights and a fireball while in Iceland in 2017. I then started doing astrophotography.
Roberto Vargas: I started collecting meteorites when a buddy of mine showed me a piece of Seymchan in 2017. Up until that point I had not fully realized that the general public could own meteorites. After that, I started watching old Meteorite Men reruns and eventually decided to try my hand at hunting meteorites.
Pat Branch: I have been collecting over 20 years and grew up with an interest in astronomy and space.
Carl Dietrich: Collecting fossils and then metal detecting got me interested in meteorites about 5 years ago, and I’ve been collecting since around that time so 4 or 5 years.
How many hunts have you been on? And where else any other previous successes?
Jennifer Black: I have been hoping for a space rock every single time I went out to look for rocks anywhere, but so far, I’ve got one successful hunt that I know for sure I found a meteorite! From Amo Indiana on December 12, 2024!
Paul Fiscus: This was my first time.
Roberto Vargas: I’ve been on a few successful hunts over the past few years. Among them, Cranfield, Junction City, Muskogee, and a few others.
Pat Branch: Dozens and dozens of hunts. I had finds at Junction City, Salt Lake, Muskogee, and some old desert falls.
Carl Dietrich: I think 6 now, Cranfield, Junction City, Muskogee, El Sauz, Titusville, and Amo. I got lucky on Cranfield and Junction City and have struck out until this fall.
How did you hear about this fall?
Jennifer Black: I saw on social media that there was a bolide in Indiana, on December 10 I believe, and possible rocks on the ground, then Steve Arnold from Meteorite Men found one and confirmed that to be true!
Paul Fiscus: It woke us all up at 4 am. [I] then saw video on social media along with a strewnfield map. I then got a message from a Facebook friend in Minnesota who said he was coming down to look and asked if I wanted to join. A couple days prior, I got permission to hunt a farm field. We met on Saturday the 21st and began hunting.
Roberto Vargas: I first saw a video of the fall on Facebook.
Pat Branch: AMS gave the 1st indication of a potential fall. I did my own research to get a fall zone to hunt.
Carl Dietrich: I basically always wake up and check AMS (less infuriating than Facebook or Instagram), but I had my doubts about this event until I saw some videos that evening in a group chat I’m a part of. About 3 hours after that I was packed and on my way.
How did you find your piece(s) (visual, detector, or magnet), and how did you feel when you realized you had found a meteorite?
Jennifer Black: I went on the 12th with my youngest son and found a 4.95 gram individual that’s about 80% covered in a beautiful, textured black crust outside of the Amo Fire Station! I had walked the corn field for about an hour in 16°F with my cheap metal detector that I’m pretty sure doesn’t work right with my 7 year old son, and found nothing for a while… I let my son play, and looked again on the road, and was about ready to call it quits, and saw one lying near the drain where my son was playing in the freezing water!! I called to him and he asked me if I found one, and I confirmed, and we screamed a lot and did a ridiculous dance, and took a picture of my son in front of it, our first find as a family! It was unforgettable to say the least! He wasn’t permitted to dig it out until the picture was taken! I didn’t think to take too many more pictures, I was in the clouds after I took pictures of the stone and could see even better details of the tiny beautiful meteorite I wanted so badly and found! I went back on December 28, for my birthday, but was unsuccessful the second time… That’s ok! I’ll find more someday!
Paul Fiscus: Visual. I yelled at AJ and said you better come look. He knew right away it was the real deal as he had been hunting for some time. We were both very excited.
Roberto Vargas: I had been searching in Coatesville for a couple of days with no luck. On the 12th of December, I learned that Jennifer Black had found her 4.9g piece in Amo, which lead me to start the search on the 13th in Amo. About 15 minutes into my search, I came across what I initially thought was a small pebble outside of the Amo Community Center. It was laying on a painted line in the Community Center’s parking lot. I decided to get a closer look at it and to my surprise it was a beautifully crusted little 4.5g individual.
Pat Branch: Visually while walking a large field. We searched for about 4 hours before we found it. That feeling when you actually find a nice stone is hard to describe. Like topping a roller coaster, your heart jumps around in your chest.
Carl Dietrich: All of them visually, and all of them excite me to more or less the same level. Of course a huge one gets a bit more jumping and yelling from involved parties, but I still love small individuals!
What was one unique thing about this hunt vs the others you have been on? (only answer if applicable)
Roberto Vargas: I think that for the most part, there was considerably more collaboration between the hunters on this fall than a lot of the others that I’ve been on.
Pat Branch: The fall zone is almost all plowed fields. Perfect place for a fall.
Carl Dietrich: Almost all the landowners were pretty willing to let us hunt, and I never felt disliked other than a passerby calling the cops on us for walking a property we had permission for. All and all, aside from the cold, I really enjoyed my time here.
What aspect of the piece(s) you found do you love the most on this fall?
Jennifer Black: The meteorite is small, but it has so much charm and character!! It has a small regmaglypt, mostly crusted, metal and light colored matrix is exposed, and just everything you would expect from a space rock! I have not used a magnet on it, and made a case for it to live in forever… It is so special to me!
Paul Fiscus: The flow lines were pretty cool and the color and shape was unlike any rock I’ve seen.
Roberto Vargas: My piece was one of the smaller ones found. However, it is mostly fusion crusted and shows some evidence of orientation. If you look closely, my piece has primary and secondary fusion crust and even a little lipping along one of it sides.
Pat Branch: It was shaped like the head of an axe, wedge shaped. Perfect fusion crust.
Carl Dietrich: There were lots of really nicely crusted individuals, but mostly I like that I was able to find such a wide range of sizes on this fall. Beyond my finds, it was nice to see such a wide variety of shapes and sizes from others. I feel like the diversity in land ownership definitely helped allow the strewn field to grow over the last month or so.
What were a few of your most memorable non-find moments from this hunt?
Jennifer Black: One thing that stands out to me is that it was my son’s first time too, and I hope that memory lasts forever for him! He got to tell his classmates about [hunting] while they had a snow day the day we left Michigan for Indiana, and he came back having done something many people never get to experience!! That’s cool to me! I’m glad I got to share it with someone, especially my baby!
Paul Fiscus: Talking and asking questions to a person who knew way more than I did.
Roberto Vargas: As always, the dinners after the days’ hunts are always a fun and memorable experience. I also got to meet some of the collectors I’d only dealt with virtually up until this hunt. I got to hunt with Kent Ratajeski and Nick Schuck, who had never been on a meteorite hunt before. I also got to hang out with another collector who I had met once or twice before, Benjamin Kartz. The camaraderie made the whole trip worth it. My personal find was the cherry on top!
Pat Branch: The fries at the place the hunters gathered at for dinner were great.
Carl Dietrich: I got to bring my childhood friend Seth to hunt for the second time, and while he didn’t find anything, I think it’s given him the bug (or is it a curse?). I got to meet a lot of great people this hunt too, it’s always nice talking shop with fellow metheads.
