On this day in May

Comet Schwassmann–Wachmann 3 Comets and showers

Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Wachmann discovered their third comet, 73P.

Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock Comets and showers

George Alcock spotted the comet now called IRAS–Araki–Alcock with binoculars.

Chang'e 6 Mission

Chang'e 6 launched on a Long March 5 rocket.

Aristides Brezina is born Born

The Vienna curator whose detailed classification of meteorites was used around the world for more than half a century.

Grove Karl Gilbert is born Born

The great American geologist who argued that the Moon's craters were made by impacts, yet concluded that Meteor Crater was not.

Robert Peary is born Born

The Arctic explorer who took the great Cape York iron meteorites from Greenland to New York in the 1890s.

The Benešov meteorite falls in the Czech Republic Fall

A fireball photographed over the Czech Republic in 1991 whose meteorites were found only 20 years later – and turned out to be a mixture of types.

Colin Pillinger is born Born

The Open University scientist who studied carbon in meteorites and led Beagle 2, Britain's lander for Mars.

Hayabusa Mission

Hayabusa launched on an M-V rocket.

Henry Clifton Sorby is born Born

The Sheffield scientist who invented the study of rocks in thin slices and described chondrules as frozen drops of fiery rain.

Estherville: stone and iron mixed Fall

A shower of stony-iron meteorites falls near Estherville, Iowa, after a loud fireball. The largest mass weighs about 200 kilograms. They are mesosiderites, a rare mixture of metal and broken rock.

In the timeline

OSIRIS-REx Mission

Left Bennu for Earth.

Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock Comets and showers

Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock passed 4.7 million km from Earth, the closest comet in two centuries.

Comet Machholz Comets and showers

Donald Machholz discovered the comet 96P/Machholz with binoculars.

Orgueil: a very special shower Fall

About twenty black stones fall near Orgueil in southern France. Soft enough to cut with a knife, they are CI chondrites, whose chemistry is the closest match known to the Sun's.

In the timeline

Glatton lands in a garden Fall

Arthur Pettifor hears something crash through a hedge in his garden at Glatton, near Peterborough, and finds a warm 767-gram stone. It was the last recovered British fall for 30 years.

Arthur Pettifor

Nōgata: the oldest fall with a surviving stone Fall

A stone falls in the grounds of a shrine at Nōgata in southern Japan and is kept there as a sacred object. Scientific analysis in 1979 showed it is an ordinary chondrite, making it the oldest witnessed fall from which a specimen survives.

Chang'e 4 Mission

The relay satellite Queqiao launched.

Stannern: a shower of basalt from Vesta Fall

Some 200 or more stones fall around Stannern in Moravia. They are eucrites, volcanic rock now known to come from the crust of the asteroid Vesta, and many go to the Vienna collection.

In the timeline · Carl von Schreibers

Comet 209P/LINEAR Comets and showers

Earth passed through dust from Comet 209P/LINEAR, giving the first Camelopardalid display.

Hraschina: two irons fall near Zagreb Fall

Two masses of iron, about 40 and 9 kilograms, fall near the village of Hraschina in Croatia after a fireball. Church officials take sworn statements, and the larger mass goes to the imperial collection in Vienna, where it still is.

Alois von Beckh-Widmanstätten · Carl von Schreibers

Edward Howard is born Born

The English chemist who found nickel in fallen stones in 1802, and after whom the howardite meteorites are named.

Comet 209P/LINEAR Comets and showers

Comet 209P/LINEAR passed about 8.3 million km from Earth.

Tianwen-2 Mission

Tianwen-2 launched from Xichang on a Long March 3B rocket.

Comet Schwassmann–Wachmann 3 Comets and showers

The Tau Herculids, from the break-up of Comet Schwassmann–Wachmann 3, gave a small outburst over North America.