On the Trail of the World's Great Meteorites
Recent Fall - June 26 2025
Georgia Daytime Fireball - 'Report from the Strewnfield'
Photo Credit Ed Albin
On June 26 2025 at 1225 EDT local time, a bright daytime fireball was spotted over the skies south of Atlanta, Georgia. It was seen visually and reported to the AMS by hundreds of observers. It traveled roughly from NE to SW in a steep almost vertical downward course. It was seen to explode and fragment several times and was caught on multiple photos and video. Scientists immediately found its signature on multiple Doppler weather radar sites as well as a GOES lightning mapper satellite. Within hours, hunters began driving and flying into Georgia.
GOES Image
A local Atlanta meteorite hunter, Steven Dixey, was at the predicted drop zone rapidly. He found a fresh meteorite at 4:50pm and another at 6:45pm that afternoon. The fireball had dropped them in the region of McDonough and Blacksville, Georgia. These finds were very fortunate as a rain storm appeared soon afterwards, and started wetting the meteorites. Luckily his pre-rain sample was sent for analysis to Lawrence Garvie at Arizona State University.
Photo Credit Steven Dixey - first pieces showing flow lines
​Within hours more meteorite hunters converged on the predicted strewnfield. I immediately flew to Atlanta and met up with team members Anton Clemens and Matt Stream. We discussed search strategies while we awaited delayed luggage. We did not know what we would find but we had a good idea where to look, based on the radar and weather data. By Saturday morning June 28 I had found my first meteorite half buried in wet clay soil. It was a beautiful 45 g fully crusted intact stone. Soon after the other team members started finding meteorites. By the end of our first day hunting, we had 11 meteorites including a 56 gram specimen for Anton.​​
Anton, Matt, Dave
Dave's first witnessed fall find - 45 gms
Over the next week, we searched residential streets, fields, roadways and parking lots. We met multiple other avid meteorite hunters on the quest, battling enthusiastic mosquitoes, ticks and spiders in the trees and blazing sun, humidity, hail and lightning storms. Some of the hunters we encountered included “Fireball” Steve Arnold, Roberto Vargas and Norman Lebron, Preston Allen and son Jerron (who found his very first meteorite), Cameron and Jodi Smith, Carl Dietrich and his dog Piper, Logan Wesel, Mark and Eric Lyon and of course Michelle and Steven Dixey.
On Monday June 30th and Tuesday July 1st our team wandered around a “drop zone” subdivision and talked to the local inhabitants. After instructing several locals on the features of these fresh meteorites, several found stones in their front or backyards. Most of the people we met were welcoming, and fascinated that their community was in the epicenter of this amazing fireball.
One police officer went out in his backyard and saw that his shed door had been hit. He found a large rock near the shed. It turned out to be 173gm space rock. Several people described hearing the detonation explosions, as well as whizzing or whirring sounds like a series of drones. One man described a tree being hit and then shaking in his backyard. Apparently, at the local jail, windows and doors shook suggesting a shock wave. A Middle School science teacher was thrilled when Anton located a broken meteorite on her front walk. She planned to show her class the excellent sample demonstrating the crust and interior of the space rock.
I was fortunate to find 17 meteorites, including one beside a vehicle, two small ones on a back patio, another 2 on driveways, several buried in muddy clay, one lying on some pine needles and one lying on leaves. We encountered armadillos, tortoises, a cottonmouth snake, deer, and of course many dogs. Matt was fortunate to see the owner of the current 406gm main mass and take pictures of this. On the Fourth of July, I partnered with Steve Arnold and videoed him pulling a 16.8gm meteorite out of a swimming pool !!
All in all, a greatly successful witnessed fireball meteorite hunt !!
406 gram main mass - photo by Matt Stream
16.8 gram meteorite moments after rescuing it from the bottom of a swimming pool
