On this day in January

Piazzi discovers Ceres History

At Palermo, Giuseppe Piazzi spots a faint moving object that turns out to orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Ceres is the first asteroid found and is now classed as a dwarf planet.

Giuseppe Piazzi

New Horizons Mission

Flew past Arrokoth, the most distant object ever visited.

Stardust Mission

Flew through the coma of comet 81P/Wild 2 and collected dust.

Comet Wild 2

A second asteroid spotted before impact History

The small asteroid 2014 AA is found hours before it strikes the atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean, the second ever detected before impact.

Richard Kowalski

Lost City: a fall caught on camera Fall

Cameras of the Prairie Network photograph a fireball over Oklahoma. Its path is calculated, and a stone is found near the town of Lost City within a week.

Richard McCrosky

Chang'e 4 Mission

Landed in Von Kármán crater, the first soft landing on the far side.

Comet Tuttle Comets and showers

Horace Tuttle rediscovered the comet behind the Ursid meteors.

Comet Tempel–Tuttle Comets and showers

Horace Tuttle independently found Comet Tempel–Tuttle.

Comet Wild 2 Comets and showers

Paul Wild discovered Comet Wild 2.

Sakigake and Suisei Mission

Sakigake launched, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft.

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS Comets and showers

Purple Mountain Observatory discovered Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS.

A stone falls at Stretchleigh in Devon Fall

A stone weighing about 10 kilograms falls near Ermington in south Devon, seen by people nearby. It is the oldest fall in England with a written record, although the stone itself has been lost.

Deep Impact Mission

Deep Impact launched on a Delta II rocket.

Comet McNaught Comets and showers

Comet McNaught passed closest to the Sun, brighter than Venus.

Stardust brings back comet dust Mission

NASA's Stardust capsule lands in Utah with dust collected from Comet Wild 2. Some grains formed at high temperature near the young Sun, a surprise for an icy comet.

Stardust · Comet Wild 2

Comet Encke Comets and showers

Pierre Méchain discovered the comet later named after Johann Encke.

Harvey Nininger is born Born

The schoolteacher who became the greatest meteorite hunter of the twentieth century, finding hundreds of new meteorites across the American plains.

Comet Wirtanen Comets and showers

Carl Wirtanen discovered Comet Wirtanen.

The first meteorite recognised from the Moon Find

John Schutt and Ian Whillans find a 31-gram stone in the Allan Hills of Antarctica. In 1983 it is shown to be a rock from the Moon, the first meteorite known to be lunar.

In the timeline · John Schutt · Brian Mason · Robert Clayton · Toshiko Mayeda

Tagish Lake falls onto ice Fall

A fireball over north-western Canada drops fragile carbon-rich stones onto a frozen lake. Some are collected without being touched by hand and kept frozen, preserving them almost untouched.

In the timeline

New Horizons Mission

New Horizons launched on an Atlas V rocket.

Rosetta and Philae Mission

Woke from 31 months of hibernation.

2024 BX1 falls near Berlin Fall

Krisztián Sárneczky discovers a small asteroid about three hours before it hits. It explodes west of Berlin, and meteorites are found near Ribbeck within days. They are aubrites, a rare type.

Krisztián Sárneczky

Opportunity Mission

Landed on Meridiani Planum.

Pultusk: a rain of stones in Poland Fall

Tens of thousands of stones fall near Pułtusk, north of Warsaw, one of the largest showers of stones on record. Most pieces are small, many only a few grams.

In the timeline

Comet Hyakutake Comets and showers

Yuji Hyakutake discovered the Great Comet of 1996.

Apollo 14 Mission

Apollo 14 launched.