A meteor that lit up Western Australia’s sky on Mother’s Day 2025 produced a rare scientific find and a piece of the meteorite that fell is now on display at the WA Museum Boola Bardip.
The meteorite landed in the salt flats of Lake Hope, around 530 kilometres east of Perth on Ngadju Country, and was recovered using Curtin University’s Desert Fireball Network (DFN). Observations from this national network of digital cameras combined with atmospheric modelling enabled the team to track its path to Earth and meteorite hunters located three pieces of the meteorite just before forecast rain could have hidden them from view.
Now, a fragment of the first piece found is on display in WA Museum Boola Bardip’s Origins Gallery, where visitors can explore how meteorites help reveal the history of our solar system.
The Pindarri Punju Puri meteorite is a rare LL ordinary chondrite, with its orbit tracked before impact placing it among some 60 meteorites worldwide with this level of recorded detail.
Estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old, it offers researchers the ability to match the rock type to its origins in the solar system.
Meteorites hold evidence of Earth’s origin. More than just rocks from space, they are time capsules that contain cosmic dust, key elements, and a record of our solar system’s formation dating back some 4.6 billion years.
The Origins Gallery highlights the science behind meteorites and their journey to Earth. Most meteorites are fragments of asteroids, though some come from the Moon or Mars. The gallery also showcases impact craters, scientific fieldwork, and the Desert Fireball Network, which tracks fireballs formed by space rocks as they enter the atmosphere leading to their recovery and study.
This fragment from Lake Hope offers a rare chance to see part of a meteorite that had been travelling through space for billions of years before it plummeted to Earth and is now part of a broader story told through the Museum’s collection.
Visit the WA Museum Boola Bardip to see the meteorite fragment and discover how space rocks help us understand the origins of our solar system.
