Downeast Men Think They May Have Found Piece Of Space Rock

Update: The results are in. Is it or is it not a space rock?

Original story: Two weekends ago, the state of Maine got a visitor from outer space...kind of. NASA claimed that Maine had an actual "radar observed" meteorite enter our state, and land somewhere in the Downeast area. 

The sight of the balls of light burning across the sky got people buzzing.

But when news came out that the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel was offering up a substantial chunk of change for a burnt chunk of rock, people took to the woods around the area the meteorite was reported to have landed, to see if they could find where it fell.

If someone could find a piece of meteorite that weighed at least one kilogram, the museum would shell out $25k to buy that!

One of those trying their hand at the space-rock recovery in Downeast Maine was none other than Maine's own Downest Cowboy, Kelly Hinkle.

Hinkle teamed up with pal James Hubisz, and armed with a gazetteer and their keen senses, the pair hit the road on April 15th, and traveled to Waite, Maine, in search of this literal space ball.

"There were a ton of people on side roads leading up to the hot spots radar picked up. We ended up walking around 8 miles round trip."

"We used drones to fly above to try and find a debris field."

That's when Kelly said he noticed a stone that was black in color.

"The stone had a different smell to it. "

"We ended up smelling and feeling how heavy the rocks near it was."

"We searched the area to try to find another piece but no luck."

The pair put the piece into a state-of-the-art approved space-rock delivery system...aka a red-lidded Tupperware container...

...and transported their discovery to the museum for verification.

"Currently, the stone is at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel, Maine. They will test the stone to see if it is or not a meteorite ."

Hinkle says the testing will likely take a few days, so it will be a minute before they know whether or not what they found really came from space.

We've got our fingers crossed for you, Downeast Cowboy!

And when you find out if it's your rock really is from out of this world, let us know!