Scientists ask hillwalkers to hunt for meteorite fragments after fireball over Scotland
Space researchers say fragments from a July 3 fireball likely fell across the Highlands and could yield samples from the early solar system
Scientists are asking hillwalkers and members of the public to look for meteorite fragments after a bright meteoroid exploded over northern Scotland in the early hours of July 3.
Researchers with the UK Fireball Alliance have reconstructed the object's path and say fragments may have been scattered across a fall zone straddling Loch Treig in Lochaber, Highland. Smaller pieces weighing up to about 100 grams are suspected to have fallen on the western slopes around Stob Coire, Easain and Chno Dearg, while larger chunks, possibly up to 10 kilograms, are thought to have struck the Ben Alder plateau, where exposed granite could make dark meteorites easier to spot.
The aerial event was captured on some cameras and shared on social media, showing a bright yellow spark streaking across the night sky before breaking apart. Professor Luke Daly, a planetary geoscientist at the University of Glasgow who studies and retrieves space rocks, described meteorites as "time capsules of the early solar system" that can hold information about how the solar system formed and whether meteorites delivered compounds important to the development of life.
Daly and Dr Aine O'Brien, a space scientist at the same university, led a volunteer search to Ben Alder but were forced to cut the effort short by poor weather before they could recover any fragments. "The clock is very much ticking on our chances to learn as much as we can from these rocks," Daly said, noting that exposure to Earth's atmosphere and weather can quickly alter meteorites and reduce the scientific information they carry.
Dr O'Brien urged hillwalkers to be alert for rocks that "stand out from everything around them." She said meteorites typically look black, glassy and shiny, are heavy for their size and, because they can contain metal, may show slight rusting after rain. If a walker believes they have found a meteorite, they are asked to photograph the object, record GPS coordinates and notify the UK Fireball Alliance. Finders should avoid handling small specimens directly; wrapping a small rock in aluminium foil or placing it in a clean sandwich bag will help preserve it. If a fragment is too large to carry, a precise GPS location will help researchers recover it later.
The UK Meteor Network's Jamie Shepherd said any confirmed recovery would be "history-making," noting that the last time a meteorite was recovered in Scotland was in December 1917, when the Strathmore meteorite fell and was recovered in four fragments. In 2021, Daly led the team that recovered the largest intact fragment of the Winchcombe meteorite, the first carbonaceous chondrite retrieved on UK soil in nearly three decades; that recovery underscored how rapidly meteorites can degrade after contact with the environment and the scientific value of prompt collection.
The UK Fireball Alliance has asked anyone who thinks they have found a fragment to contact the group with photos and location details so specialists can assess and, if warranted, secure the material for laboratory analysis. Scientists hope any recovered fragments will be classified quickly to determine their type; researchers say the July find is likely an ordinary chondrite, a common class of stony meteorite.
Meteors, which are the visible flashes produced when space debris burns in Earth's atmosphere, originate from meteoroids that themselves generally come from asteroids and comets. When fragments survive atmospheric entry and reach the ground they are called meteorites, and they can range from dust-sized grains to multi-kilogram stones. Recovered meteorites provide direct samples from other parts of the solar system that cannot otherwise be studied on Earth.
With weather and ground exposure beginning to alter newly fallen material, researchers emphasized timely reporting and careful handling to maximise the scientific return from any recovered fragments of the July 3 fireball.