Asteroid capsule located in Australian desert

A recovery team in Australia has found a space capsule carrying the first significant quantities of rock from an asteroid.

The capsule, containing material from a space rock called Ryugu, parachuted down near Woomera in South Australia.

The samples were originally collected by a Japanese spacecraft called Hayabusa-2, which spent more than a year investigating the object.

The container detached from Hayabusa-2, later entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The official Hayabusa-2 Twitter account reported that the capsule and its parachute had been found at 19:47 GMT.

"Hayabusa-2 is home," Yuichi Tsuda, project manager for the mission, told journalists on Sunday morning (GMT).

"We collected the treasure," he said, adding: "Everything was perfect."

He added that there was no damage to the container.

Earlier on Saturday, the capsule was picked up by cameras as a dazzling fireball streaking over Australia's Coober Pedy region.