Meteorite men dream of finding the "Big One"

Early on 15 April, Michael Farmer, 38 years old, from Tucson, Arizona, paid $1,000 for a one-way flight to Chicago. After he landed at O'Hare Airport, he jumped into a rented car and drove four hours north to Mifflin, Wisconsin. The search was on. Hoping to find bits of that four-billion-year-old rock from outer space, meteorite hunters paid farmers $50 a day to walk their fields.

Meteor or meteorite, what's the difference? Well, when small pieces of comets or asteroids enter the Earth's atmosphere they are called meteors. Those bits that don't burn up and reach the surface of the Earth are called meteorites. Michael Farmer is just one of hundreds of professional hunters in the US who make their living by finding and selling meteorites.

"How cool is it that you can hold something in your hand that was millions of miles on the other side of the moon three days ago," Farmer told the Wall Street Journal.

Because meteorite collectors are willing to pay lots of money for rare specimens, more and more people are becoming hunters. There is even a television show called Meteorite Men. Cameras follow the two "stars" (Steve Arnold and Geoff Notkin)  who dream of finding the "Big One".