On this day in March

Rosetta and Philae Mission

Rosetta launched on an Ariane 5 rocket.

Lazarus Fletcher is born Born

The Natural History Museum mineralogist whose clear introduction to meteorites taught the public for decades.

Mars Express Mission

Flew 67 km from Phobos, the closest pass of any spacecraft.

The Gao-Guenie meteorite falls in Burkina Faso Fall

A shower of stones over Burkina Faso in 1960 that became one of the most widely distributed meteorites in the world.

Vega 1 and 2 Mission

Vega 1 passed Halley's Comet at about 8,900 km.

2003 EH1, the Quadrantid parent Comets and showers

The LONEOS survey discovered 2003 EH1, later shown to be the parent of the Quadrantids.

Dawn Mission

Entered orbit around Ceres.

The largest Winchcombe piece is found Find

Searching a sheep field near Winchcombe, the volunteer Mira Ihasz finds a 152-gram piece of the meteorite, the largest recovered.

In the timeline · Mira Ihasz · Luke Daly

Jilin: the largest stony fall seen Fall

A shower of stones falls in Jilin province in China, including a single stone of about 1,770 kilograms, the largest stony meteorite ever seen to fall.

In the timeline

Sakigake and Suisei Mission

Suisei passed Halley's Comet at about 151,000 km.

Comet Pons–Winnecke Comets and showers

Friedrich Winnecke rediscovered Comet Pons–Winnecke.

Vega 1 and 2 Mission

Vega 2 passed Halley's Comet at about 8,000 km.

Sakigake and Suisei Mission

Sakigake passed Halley's Comet at about 7 million km.

The Bjurböle meteorite falls in Finland Fall

A meteorite that crashed through sea ice in Finland in 1899 and is so crumbly that its chondrules fall out like marbles.

Hera Mission

Flew past Mars and photographed its moon Deimos.

Giovanni Schiaparelli is born Born

The Milan astronomer who showed in 1866 that the Perseid meteors follow the orbit of a comet.

Middlesbrough: a stone lands by a railway Fall

Railway workers near Middlesbrough hear a rushing noise and find a stone of about 1.6 kilograms buried in a railway embankment. It is now in the Yorkshire Museum in York.

Giotto Mission

Passed the nucleus of Halley's Comet at about 600 km.

Halley's Comet

Hoba becomes a national monument History

The Hoba iron is declared a national monument, protecting it from the souvenir hunters who had been cutting pieces away.

In the timeline · Jacobus Hermanus Brits

Comet Hartley 2 Comets and showers

Malcolm Hartley discovered Comet Hartley 2.

Comet 169P/NEAT Comets and showers

The NEAT survey found the object now known as Comet 169P/NEAT, parent of the Alpha Capricornids.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS Mission

A small impact on the Moon was seen as a flash from Earth; LRO later imaged the new crater.

Gustav Rose is born Born

The Berlin mineralogist who sorted meteorites into families in 1863 and coined the names chondrite and howardite.

Hubert Anson Newton is born Born

The Yale mathematician who traced the Leonid meteor storms back a thousand years and predicted their return in 1866.

Comet Mellish Comets and showers

John Mellish discovered the comet behind the December Monocerotids.

Robert Clayton is born Born

The chemist who discovered that oxygen isotopes give every meteorite group its own fingerprint, the key to telling where meteorites come from.

Chang'e 6 Mission

The relay satellite Queqiao-2 launched to lunar orbit.

Monahans: water inside a meteorite Fall

Stones fall in Monahans, Texas. Inside them are tiny purple crystals of rock salt holding droplets of liquid water from their parent asteroid.

Gerald Wasserburg is born Born

The Caltech geochemist whose super-clean laboratory dated Moon rocks and found the traces of aluminium-26 in the Allende meteorite.

Comet Hyakutake Comets and showers

Comet Hyakutake passed about 15 million km from Earth.

Park Forest: stones hit a Chicago suburb Fall

A fireball showers stones over Park Forest, Illinois, smashing through roofs and windows. Hundreds of pieces are collected.

NEOWISE Mission

Discovered comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE.

Comet NEOWISE

Olbers finds Pallas History

Heinrich Olbers, a doctor in Bremen, discovers a second body between Mars and Jupiter and names it Pallas.

Heinrich Olbers

Olbers discovers Vesta History

Heinrich Olbers finds a fourth asteroid, which Carl Friedrich Gauss names Vesta. It is now known to be the parent of the howardite, eucrite and diogenite meteorites.

Heinrich Olbers