The meteorite fall of Koblenz on 8 March 2026

On 8 March 2026 at 18:55:05 CET an exceptionally bright fireball appeared in the sky over western Germany. A meteoroid entered the atmosphere over northern France and moved north east across the Eifel into the Koblenz region. At about 17° the entry angle was very shallow, and the speed was approximately 16 km/s. Because of the extreme heat and the high dynamic pressure in the atmosphere the body broke apart several times, which showed as bright flashes of light. The visible phenomenon lasted about six seconds and was observed by numerous eyewitnesses. The International Meteor Organization (IMO) registered more than 3000 eyewitness reports as well as extensive photo and video material. Many witnesses also reported loud detonations, and the strikingly bright meteor cloud remained visible for minutes. The bolide was not only observed visually but also recorded by the AllSky7 cameras of the European fireball network.

Shortly after the fireball had faded, a meteorite pierced the roof of a residential building in Koblenz Güls, made a hole about the size of a football and landed in a bedroom. Nobody was injured. Because of the fireball and the impact, the local police and fire brigade received numerous emergency calls. The emergency services examined the building and later confirmed that it was indeed a meteorite fall. During the examination of the house and its surroundings several pieces of the meteorite were recovered. In total eleven larger fragments weighing between 6 g and 161 g were found. The largest fragment was about the size of a tennis ball.

Because of the wide media coverage, scientists as well as numerous professional meteorite hunters and amateur enthusiasts set out to search for further fragments of the Koblenz meteorite. Among them were the AKM members Leon Thannheiser and Frank Rauschenbach. Searchers also traveled from Poland, France and the United States. Indeed, some small fragments were recovered around the house. However, these are tiny meteorite splinters, most of them weighing only a few grams. Outside Koblenz Güls, in the assumed strewn field where Addi Bischoff also searched for fragments, no further pieces were found. Some fragments found in the immediate vicinity of the impact site were offered for sale. The team of Addi Bischoff, Markus Patzek and Jasper Berndt from the University of Münster also obtained a few samples, on which they were able to study and classify the meteorite. 

Unfortunately no further meteorites have been found to date (as of April 2026). Because the meteoroid entered the Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle, the strewn field extends over several dozen kilometers. This makes the search extremely difficult, as the search area is very large and imprecise.

From 20 to 22 March 2026 the annual meeting of the Arbeitskreis Meteore took place in Göttingen. A 1.28 gram fragment of the Koblenz meteorite with fusion crust could be shown at the meeting. On the way back from Göttingen to Berlin, André Knöfel, Rainer Arlt and Andreas Möller made a small detour via Dresden. Their destination was the Felsenkeller laboratory of the VKTA Strahlenschutz, Analytik & Entsorgung Rossendorf e.V. The Felsenkeller in Dresden was built in 1857 and, under the name "Eiswurmlager", belonged to a former brewery. Today it houses a laboratory that is shielded from cosmic radiation by a 45 meter thick layer of rock. On arrival at the Felsenkeller we were warmly welcomed by Stig Bartel. After an interesting tour of the highly sensitive measuring equipment we handed over six fragments of the Koblenz meteorite. This made it possible to start the gamma spectroscopy measurement only two weeks after the fall in order to detect short lived cosmogenic radionuclides.

In the meantime the University of Münster also began its first investigations. The rock is silicate rich and consists mainly of feldspars (plagioclase) and pyroxenes. The proportion of metallic phases is extremely low. While more than 80 % of meteorite falls are typically chondrites, the meteorite fall of Koblenz Güls is an achondrite. The microscopic examination and the chemical analysis of the composition of the main phases have shown that it must be a so called eucrite (figures A and B). Eucrites belong to the HED meteorites (howardites, eucrites and diogenites). Achondrites like our new meteorite come from larger parent bodies that were once melted in the early phase of their existence. Our "Koblenz" shows extreme fragmentation (figures A and B), which can be traced back to repeated collisions between asteroids. Finally, a last impact split off a fragment from the parent body and sent it on its journey to Earth. Rocks of the HED group possibly come from the asteroid 4 Vesta, one of the largest bodies in the asteroid belt, or from the vestoids, a group of small bright asteroids.

The meteorite does not yet have an official name, as the classification has not yet been published in the Meteoritical Bulletin. However, it will probably be named "Koblenz" or "Koblenz-Güls", as meteorites are usually named after the place where they are found.