A group of amateur astronomers have mapped a search area where pieces of last weekend's asteroid may have fallen in Queensland's cattle country.
The meteor, which shot across regional Queensland on Saturday night, was up to a meter in diameter and travelled up to 150,000 kilometres per hour.
It lit up skies and social media as many people shared video evidence of the spectacle.
Less than a week later, the citizen science group Australian Meteor Reports has used those videos to map potential fall sites west of the tiny gulf town of Croydon.
Group founder David Finlay said locating any meteorites was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"Earlier in the week, we didn't know where the haystack was," he said.
"Now we think we might have found the haystack.
"It could be one 'needle'. It could be dozens or hundreds of meteorites out there waiting for us to find them."
The citizen scientists have begun contacting land owners and graziers in the area who they believe could have meteorites in their paddocks.
In Queensland, you cannot collect or remove a meteorite on state land without approval from the relevant agency.
However, on private property, any meteor fragments belong to the landholder.
Community intrigued
Jane Marina Kidd has owned Tabletop Station, north of Croydon, for 23 years and says the chance of finding meteorites nearby is exciting.
"It would be, but I think they will be quite small," she said.
Like many in the region, Ms Marina Kidd is preoccupied with mustering cattle, which leaves her little time to hunt for meteorites.
However, she says the region welcomes visitor efforts to find them.
"As long as landowners are notified it shouldn't be a problem," Ms Marina Kidd said.
She said loud, sonic booms shook her home and that meteorites could have landed.
"It woke me up," Ms Marina Kidd said.
"[It] sounded like drums exploding out at the shed.
"We had a look, and there was like a jet stream coming down to the front of the house and at the back of the house was a great big black hole in the sky."
Mr Finlay is hopeful his group can collaborate with graziers to hunt for any meteorites.
"We are going to let them know that they may have meteorites on their land to see if they can find one," he said.
"We might be able to send out a search party from our group or in collaboration with one of the universities to find them."
Key characteristics
Astrophysicist with the Australian National University Brad Tucker said fragments from this meteor would have a dimpled appearance "due to the event of going through the Earth's atmosphere".
"They're never really round. They're also dense and heavy," he said.
Dr Tucker said there was a "small chance" some of the meteor landed.
"If it broke apart and fell to the ground, they are going to be maybe within a couple of square kilometres," he said.
The vivid colour of the meteor sightings suggested to Dr Tucker that, if any pieces made it onto graziers' properties, there was a "real chance" they could identify them.
"Because there was so much blue and green colour, there was clearly quite a bit of iron and nickel in it," he said.
"If it is one of those more metallic meteorites that are almost all iron and nickel, you do have a better chance of finding those on the ground."
Dr Tucker said there would be plenty to learn from the meteorites if any were found.
"If you can figure out where the meteor came from in space — what part of the asteroid belt — you can get some insight into what the composition of those materials are there as well," he said.
