Did a meteor just explode over Cape Cod Bay?

A rare meteor explosion lit up Cape Cod Bay, and now the big question is whether anyone can recover pieces of it.

The blast happened recently enough that it’s still fresh in people’s minds. Meteor fragments that survive entry through Earth’s atmosphere can land in water or on land, and they’re valuable to scientists. But finding them is the hard part.

Cape Cod Bay is a large body of water, which makes recovery difficult. The exact location where debris might have landed isn’t pinpointed yet. Experts are weighing whether search efforts are even feasible given the vast area involved.

Meteors that explode in the atmosphere are uncommon near populated areas. When they do, the fragments that make it to the ground can tell scientists about the composition of space rocks and the history of our solar system.