Muscat – More than 7,000 meteorites have been documented in Oman so far, according to Hussein bin Ali al Ghafri, director of heritage department at the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism.

Ghafri said, “the ministry documented several meteorites through its Meteorite Monitoring Project in cooperation with the Natural History Museum of Bern, Switzerland, and technical support provided by Curtin University of Australia, the ministry installed meteorite tracking devices across locations in the desert, which have started producing precise data on meteorite fall in Oman.”

“After analysing the data, the monitoring devices are able to accurately determine the exact location of these meteorites as they cross the airspace,” he said, adding that the ministry has worked for nearly 23 years on a systematic programme in the process of documenting meteorites annually in Oman.

“The ministry has succeeded in documenting more than 7,000 meteorites so far,” Ghafri said, indicating that devices used are the first of their kind in Oman and the Middle East and are powered by renewable energy and can be installed in any suitable place.

He confirmed that dealing with the devices that monitor the fall of meteorites is carried out by a number of national cadres after being qualified and trained.

Oman is known for its large meteorite collection and the possibility of several thousands lying exposed in deserts across the country. With the Meteorite Monitoring Project, important landings will be immediately detected and documented, and meteorites recovered for research.

Recently, the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism organised a scientific lecture on meteorites in Oman.