Researchers in South Australia celebrated New Year’s Eve with an astronomical find: a meteorite estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old.

The on Dec. 31, 2015, just hours before heavy rains that would have washed it away, according to a release from Curtin University.

According to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, some light rain fell around the lake on New Year's Eve, followed by heavier rains of 1 to 2 inches (25 to 50 mm) on New Year's Day and the day after.

The photo above shows the meteorite believed to be 4.5 billion years old that was found on Dec. 31, 2015, in South Australia.

(Curtin University)

The meteorite , sparking search efforts by Curtin University geologist Phil Bland and his team, according to BBC. They were able to track the fall site of the meteor with the Desert Fireball Network, an observation network made up of 32 remote cameras. The three-day mission also involved a drone, an aerial spotter and local Aboriginal guides.

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“It was an amazing team effort, we got there by the skin of our teeth,” Bland, who dug the meteorite by hand from a 16-inch hole in a remote part of the lake bed, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). “It’s older than the Earth itself. It’s the oldest rock you’ll ever hold in your hand.”

According to Bland, they initially believed the meteorite was a chondrite or stony meteorite, which would provide an example of the material that was created during the solar system’s formation more than 4.5 billion years ago, the ABC also reports. The meteorite is one of 20 found o far that has an identified orbit, which allows the team to track it back to the asteroid it came from.

“This meteorite is of special significance as the camera observations used to calculate the fall positions have also enabled the solar system orbit of the meteorite to be calculated, giving important contextual information for future study,” said Bland. “It is a big deal because space agencies like NASA or JAXA will spend a billion dollars trying to get an asteroid and bring a sample back, so potentially we can do it for a lot less than that.”

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