Localizing the First Interstellar Meteor with Seismometer Data

Abstract

The first meter-scale interstellar meteor (IM1) was detected by US government sensors in 2014, identified as an interstellar object candidate in 2019, and confirmed by the Department of Defense (DoD) in 2022. We use data from a nearby seismometer to localize the fireball to a ∼16km2 region within the ∼120km2 zone allowed by the precision of the DoD-provided coordinates. The improved localization is of great importance for a forthcoming expedition to retrieve the meteor fragments.

Keywords

• interstellar objects—meteorites
• meteors
• meteoroids