{"id":552008,"date":"2026-03-20T04:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552008\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T04:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T04:02:11","slug":"meteorite-hunters-from-states-away-find-fragments-in-northeast-ohio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/552008\/","title":{"rendered":"Meteorite hunters from states away find fragments in Northeast Ohio"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Meteorite hunters from states away are heading to Northeast Ohio to find fragments of what shook up St. Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

A fireball lit up skies across the top of the Buckeye State Tuesday morning after a seven-ton asteroid entered the atmosphere and broke apart over Medina County, NASA confirmed.<\/p>\n

\"TensTens of thousands of people heard and felt an explosion all over Northeast Ohio and into Pennsylvania and New York Tuesday morning.(Source: Olmsted Falls Schools\/NWS Pittsburgh)<\/p>\n

The space agency said the meteor was first detected at 8:57 a.m. off Lake Erie near Lorain. It traveled more than 34 miles through the atmosphere before breaking up, with some fragments falling to the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a rocky or metal piece, a fragment that\u2019s floating through space, that comes in contact with our atmosphere; it\u2019s that friction that creates that streak of light that we see,\u201d said JonDarr Bradshaw, a community engagement coordinator for the Great Lakes Science Center. \u201cIt\u2019s very rare, because the earth has such a thick atmosphere, that that particle, that object actually makes it all the way to the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meteorologist Kelly Dobeck noted that once a meteor reaches the ground, it is classified as a meteorite.<\/p>\n

Hunters travel across state lines<\/p>\n

Roberto Vargas came from Connecticut to Northeast Ohio and found a 12.2-gram piece on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Carl Dietrich of South Carolina also scoured the area. He found pieces of the meteorite in a parking lot on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cDriving around looking for piles of grayish rocks,\u201d Dietrich said. \u201cIt hit in a parking lot and you just see a pile on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MeteoriteMeteorite hunters from states away find fragments in Northeast Ohio (Roberto Vargas of Connecticut)(WOIO)<\/p>\n

The two met in Sharon Center, a small town that has become a meeting place for meteorite hunters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started packing,\u201d Vargas said after hearing the big boom on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Most of the meteor burned up on its way down. Vargas estimates hunters are searching for just 1% of what was originally a seven-ton meteor.<\/p>\n

\"MeteoriteMeteorite hunters from states away find fragments in Northeast Ohio (Carl Dietrich of South Carolina)(WOIO)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of gamble too, because you spend a bunch of money going to different places and you don\u2019t know if you\u2019re going to find anything,\u201d Dietrich said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just been to a hunt in Germany unsuccessfully, so my spirits were pretty low,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cSo, this was the shot that I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to look for<\/p>\n

Hunters search for black rocks with a shiny outside or a gray inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, basically what I\u2019d be looking for are black rocks,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cI\u2019m probably looking for pieces, anywhere from 1 inch to 2 inches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Astronomer Jay Reynolds said Tuesday\u2019s experience was once in a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cA shared experience, the sound of meteors, something from space coming in,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big deal. How often does this happen, very rarely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynolds said people should look for something in their backyard that shouldn\u2019t be there.<\/p>\n

\"MeteoriteMeteorite hunters from states away find fragments in Northeast Ohio (Carl Dietrich of South Carolina)(WOIO)<\/p>\n

Hunters need to find 20 grams of a specimen to send it off to a lab for research. Dietrich from South Carolina has already found that amount. Vargas from Connecticut has found 12.2 grams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things are from outer space man,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cLike the rock that I had picked up yesterday had only been on earth for like a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meteorite hunter Dietrich estimated the little bits and pieces are going to sell for maybe $100 to $200.<\/p>\n

The finds still need to be verified. Hunters must follow the law and cannot walk onto private property searching for meteorites.<\/p>\n

If you believe you found a meteorite in your backyard, show us your pics!<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – Meteorite hunters from states away are heading to Northeast Ohio to find fragments of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[273034,104630,64,63,22675,273033,273039,25273,104700,28289,273031,273032,273030,273028,273029,273040,128,52397,285,273037,273036,273038,273035],"class_list":["post-552008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-19-news","tag-atmosphere","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boom","tag-cleveland-loud-boom","tag-cleveland-news","tag-damage","tag-explosion","tag-meteor","tag-meteor-boom-cleveland","tag-national-weather-service-cleveland-meteor","tag-northeast-ohio-explosion-sound","tag-nws","tag-nws-cleveland","tag-ohio-news","tag-science","tag-sound","tag-space","tag-wews","tag-wjw","tag-wkyc","tag-woio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}