New Zealand meteorite (11th discovered), July 2026

[Astronuc]

Flight paths and fridge magnets: how a fireball hunter tracked down New Zealand’s newest meteorite​

A network of cameras helped guide a group of space enthusiasts to New Zealand’s 11th confirmed meteorite
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/11/meteorite-hunters-metor-fragments-new-zealand

Days after a massive fireball flashed through New Zealand’s skies last month, Steve Wyn-Harris spotted a small, black stone on the bare ground. The citizen astronomer was on the hunt for debris from the meteor that had flown over the North Island. He bagged the rock but wasn’t too confident, as he says most finds turn out to be “meteor-wrongs”.

But when he held the thumb-sized rock next to a fridge magnet, to detect iron and nickel in meteorites, it clicked. Wyn-Harris did the test on a video call with other citizen scientists and geologists and after the click “we were all yelling”.

His discovery marks the 11th confirmed meteorite to be found in New Zealand. Meteorites are the leftover rock that hits the ground after the meteor has burned up entering Earth’s atmosphere. Finding the debris in New Zealand can be difficult, a consequence of the country’s sparsely populated, rugged terrain.

Reported by the Guardian on Tue 28 Jul 2026
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/29/new-zealand-meteor-fireball-sightings

Two large suspected meteors have flashed and boomed across New Zealand’s skies in recent days, delighting those who glimpsed the celestial events and sending some animals into a frenzy.

A fireball was seen over parts of the North Island just after 10.20pm on Tuesday night, after a separate one streaked across South Island’s skies on Sunday evening (July 25, 2026).

Prior to this, the 11th discovered meteorite, "just 10 confirmed meteorites have been found in New Zealand in the past 150 years, but many more will have fallen and never been found."

 

[jedishrfu]

Nice, though it sounds hard to believe that someone could find such a small meteorite in such a way.