With Perseids this week, the sky is best place to find a meteor

GOLDEN - It's time to throw away everything you think you know about meteorites.

They don't glow green.

They're not radioactive.

And they certainly don't have little bugs inside.

"All of that stuff you can just throw out the window," Matt Morgan said. "Anything you see in the movies - don't believe it."

Morgan knows this not only because he is a geologist, but also because he is a meteorite collector and the owner of Mile High Meteorites, a business that serves collectors and museums.

"Most people look at it and go, 'Oh man, it looks like a piece of concrete,'" Morgan said.

But those concrete-looking space rocks can sell for tens of thousands of dollars. And for that reason, many people are interested in finding their very own meteorite.

"Everyday someone will bring something to show us," said Dr. Bruce Geller, director of the Colorado School of Mines' Geology Museum. "There are pieces that will come in on trucks. Honest to goodness pickup trucks, and it's got to be a meteorite because it's big and heavy - that doesn't mean it's a meteorite."

It's rare for anyone to find a meteorite, both Morgan and Geller said. Morgan has only found a handful in his years of collecting.

"The average person, in my estimation, couldn't identify a meteorite almost if it hit him on the head," Morgan said. "That's not to say anything about the average intelligence of folks - it's hard."

Both men agreed that one of the best ways to see a meteorite up close is to go to the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum at 13th and Maple Streets in Golden.

Another way is to check out the Perseid meteor shower Wednesday between midnight and dawn. You probably won't get to see a meteorite up close, but the Perseids are considered by many to be the year's best meteor shower.

Click here to get a map of where meteorites have been found in Colorado.