Woman walking her dog finds space rock worth $20,000

​It's a modern-day gold rush: Meteorites recently fell in California's former Gold Country in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and scores of geologists, scientists and treasure seekers have descended on the area searching for the rare outer-space minerals. But a stay-at-home mom hit the jackpot while walking her dog. Brenda Salveson, a resident of Lotus, Calif., the tiny community in the vicinity the meteorites fell, found a 17-gram piece of space rock at a local park, where it was literally lying at her feet. Scientists told her the meteorite could be up to six billion years old, and worth about $20,000. How did Salveson celebrate? By letting her son take it to school for show and tell.