Naked Science: Our Atmosphere (20 of 25)

Naked Science: Our Atmosphere

In east texas, geoff notkin and Steve arnold are searching for The remains of cosmic missiles That have been shattered by our Atmosphere.
Fragments rarer than Diamonds and worth its weight in Gold: meteorites.
These two Professional hunters seek out Space rocks buried in the Space rocks buried in the fields and prairies.
this search for meteorites Allows me the chance to touch a Little bit of what's from out There, bits of the cosmos that There, bits of the cosmos that have found their way to us.

[narrator]: the hunt has taken Steve and geoff from siberia Clear down to chile.
And some of their finds Have been spectacular.
the largest meteorite I found the largest meteorite I found was a 1430 pounds, It was a large stony iron It was a large stony iron meteorite from up in kansas.
We didn't realize it was that Big of a deal, the media kind of Picked it up and ran with it He's very modest, it's not only Steve's greatest find, it's one Of the greatest finds ever Made in meteorites.
[narrator]: the massive space Rock has been valued at up to a Cool million dollars.
But this Is a rare find, because most Meteorites simply don't survive A brush with earth's atmosphere most of them don't make it to The surface, the atmosphere is Our friend in the sense that it, It protects us from these rocks From space, but for meteorite Hunters it's also not our Greatest ally because It burns up a lot of what We're looking for.
[narrator]: steve and geoff Search for remaining fragments Using a custom-built Metal detector rig.
meteorites will have iron in Them and it's ferrous, and so Not only will a magnet attract To it but also a metal detector Will be able to pick it up.