Mira Ihasz
The volunteer who found the largest piece of the Winchcombe meteorite in a sheep field in March 2021.
Key facts
- Nationality
- British
- Field
- Volunteer searcher
Mira Ihasz was one of the volunteers who joined the search team led by scientists from the University of Glasgow, the Natural History Museum and other institutions after the Winchcombe fireball of 28 February 2021.
The search took place in March 2021, while Britain was in a Covid-19 lockdown, so the team worked carefully in small groups. Searchers lined up a few metres apart and walked slowly across fields along the predicted fall line, scanning the ground for anything dark and unusual.
On 6 March, about a week after the fall, Ihasz spotted a dark stone in a small hole in a sheep field. It weighed about 152 grams, making it the largest single piece of the Winchcombe meteorite. As it was lifted from the mud it broke into two parts, a sign of how fragile carbonaceous chondrites are.
It was a moment many hunters dream of, and it was found by careful, patient searching rather than luck alone. Her find shows how volunteers can play a vital part in recovering new meteorites, as long as they work with landowners' permission and hand fresh falls to scientists for study.
On the timeline
- 6 March 2021The largest Winchcombe piece is found