Public Asked to Provide Information About the Meteor

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – NASA and the SETI Institute are asking the public for more information to help find amateur photos and video footage of the Sunday, April 22, 2012 meteor shower that illuminated the sky over the Sierra Nevada mountains.

NASA and SETI Institute scientists are seeking the photos and video footage to better analyze the trajectory of the meteorite and learn about its orbit in space.

NASA Ames and SETI Institute meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens found a four-gram fragment of the meteor in a parking lot of Henningsen-Lotus Park, in Lotus, Calif., located on the American River not far from Sutter's Mill.

"This appears to be a rare CM-type chondrite, a primitive meteorite rich in organic compounds," Jenniskens said.

Persons who have photos or video of the meteorite are asked to contact Jenniskens at petrus.m.jennniskens@nasa.gov.  Media interested in interviewing Jenniskens and viewing the fragment are asked to contact Karen Randall of the SETI Institute at 650-575-2229.