Northland Meteor Hunt - CANCELLED
Event description
Note: This event was initially schedule for Feb 11 but has been postponed due to expected arrival of cyclone weather that weekend. Site check on Monday 20th shows the primary search field has been covered in flood waters with some pools remaining after 7 days. Sadly we have decided to cancel the event as it is no longer possible to proceed.
On November 19 last year a meteor entered the atmosphere and seen over much of Northland at 4:24am, briefly turning night into day. After gathering many eye witness accounts and footage from several cameras the researchers have identified a probably strewn field (landing site) west of Dargaville where up to 60kg of meteorites may now lay.
We are assembling a search party and need as many volunteers as possible to cover the strewn field in one day. Should the weather be unpleasant we will postpone to Sunday, and if the whole weekend is unsuitable we will consider the following weekend. We require all those over 14 years to register as part of the official search party. We welcome the participation of younger children who must remain under the supervision of a parent or guardian at all times.
We will arrange a bus for volunteers from the Whangarei region, departing from Kiwi North in Maunu at 9am. Volunteers from the Dargaville region please indicate that on your registration and depending on numbers we will advise the transport arrangements before the event. The search area has limited vehicle capacity and we do not want any people in the area as the search needs to be executed in a disciplined and co-ordinated manner.
This event is a collaboration between the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ) and the University of Otago, with the Northland Astronomical Society hosting this event in our region. If you have any direct observation or video footage of this or any other fireballs please submit a report on the following site: https://fireballs.nz/report/