Imagine sitting in your house when—BOOM! There’s a loud crash nearby. That’s what happened three years ago in Brazil, in a village called Jacilândia. A rock landed near Adriano Gomes’s home. He told reporters that the noise was as loud as a plane. At first, he was afraid to touch the strange object.

His life quickly changed. Gomes learned this wasn’t an ordinary rock. It was a meteorite that had fallen from space. Collectors from faraway cities contacted Gomes. They offered him money, hoping to buy a piece of space.

But then an all-female team of scientists called As Meteoríticas reached out. They wanted the meteorite for a different reason: to study it. 

“Each meteorite is a piece of a puzzle that teaches us the history of our solar system,” says Maria Elizabeth Zucolotto. She’s a geologist and a member of As Meteoríticas. 

What would Gomes do with his once-in-a-lifetime find?

Imagine you’re sitting in your house. Then BOOM! There’s a loud crash nearby. That’s what happened three years ago in Brazil, in a village called Jacilândia. A rock landed near Adriano Gomes’s home. He told reporters that the noise was as loud as a plane. At first, he was afraid to touch the strange object.

His life soon changed. Gomes learned this wasn’t an ordinary rock. It was a meteorite. It had fallen from space. Collectors from distant cities contacted Gomes. They offered him money. They hoped to buy a piece of space.

But then an all-female team of scientists contacted Gomes. They’re called As Meteoríticas. They wanted the meteorite for another reason: to study it. 

“Each meteorite is a piece of a puzzle that teaches us the history of our solar system,” says Maria Elizabeth Zucolotto. She’s a geologist and a member of As Meteoríticas. 

What would Gomes do with his once-in-a-lifetime find?

Most meteorites start as pieces of asteroids, rocks that move around the sun. Some meteorites break off from the moon or Mars. Once a space rock makes it to Earth’s surface without burning up, it’s considered a meteorite. More than 70,000 meteorites have been found worldwide, about 2,000 in the United States. 

The meteorite Gomes found is called a chondrite, one of the oldest types of space rocks. It’s billions of years old.

This isn’t the first time space rocks rained down on Brazil. In 2020, more than 175 pounds of meteorites fell in a city called Santa Filomena. For weeks, residents searched the area for space rocks. Some people sold the meteorites they found to private collectors for thousands of dollars.

Zucolotto is a curator at the National Museum of Brazil. She worries that when meteorites are sold to collectors, scientists won’t get to examine them. And kids may never get the chance to see them in museums.

“When you hold a meteorite, it’s like you can touch space,” Zucolotto says. “It’s different than seeing it in a book.” 

Most meteorites start as pieces of asteroids. Asteroids are rocks that move around the sun. Some meteorites also break off from the moon or Mars. A meteorite refers to a space rock that makes it to Earth’s surface without burning up. More than 70,000 meteorites have been found around the world. About 2,000 have been found in the United States.

The meteorite Gomes found is called a chondrite. That’s one of the oldest types of space rocks. It’s billions of years old.

This isn’t the first time space rocks fell on Brazil. In 2020, more than 175 pounds of meteorites fell in a city called Santa Filomena. For weeks, residents searched the area for space rocks. Some of them sold pieces they found to private collectors for thousands of dollars.

Zucolotto is a curator at the National Museum of Brazil. She worries that when meteorites are sold to collectors, scientists won’t get to study them. And kids may never get to see them in museums.

“When you hold a meteorite, it’s like you can touch space,” Zucolotto says. “It’s different than seeing it in a book.”