LONE ROCK -- After a week-long search, researchers from the University of Calgary have located fragments of the meteor that lit up skies near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border on Nov. 20.

Twelve of the unassuming black rocks -- pieces of a 10-tonne asteroid that hurtled toward the Earth at a speed of 14 kilometres per second -- were found embedded in the ice on a series of ponds 40 km southeast of Lloydminster on Thursday.

"It's a very big moment in a very short career," said Ellen Milley, a graduate student working under meteorite specialist Alan Hildebrand.

Milley -- out in the field for the first time -- spotted the fragments during a search patrol. The first piece she investigated turned out to be a leaf, but she was thrilled when the next one proved to be a 250-gram piece of the asteroid.

According to Milley, meteorites are often covered in a "black fusion crust," which she says made them easy to spot on top of the white ice.

Although she's now eligible for the $10,000 reward posted by Arizona-based meteor hunter Robert Haag, Milley says she has no plans to claim the money.

"We're in it for the science," she said.

Milley wasn't the only one lucky enough to find some of the meteorites, as local oil worker Randy Parkyn stumbled upon two small fragments while on the job.

"It's kind of neat," he said. "I didn't think anyone would ever find anything."

After examining the meteorites, Hildebrand says they came from a common meteor that originated in our solar system's asteroid belt -- a collection of space debris located between Mars and Jupiter.

Based on the meteor's trajectory, Hildebrand says larger chunks of the asteroid will likely be found to the south of where the initial pieces were located.

The "strewn area" is about eight kilometres long and three kilometres wide, Hildebrand said.

In order to find as many fragments as possible before the snow falls, both Hildebrand and Milley will be co-ordinating search teams during the weekend.

The land where the meteorites were found belongs to 52-year-old cattle rancher Ian Mitchell.

Now the legal owner of the meteorite fragments, Mitchell says he's still pondering what to do with them. At the moment, he's just happy none of the falling rocks damaged his home.

"I don't know what insurance would do about that," he said. "I'm sure they'd consider it an act of God."