Three meteorite finds (720 g, L5, S5) of bolide above Novo Mesto, Lower Carniola, Slovenia at 09:30:34 UT on 28 February 2020

Last update: 21 September 2021

The first meteorite, an ordinary chondrite (L5, S5), was found accidentally by Gregor Kos and his son at location 45°49’00.5″N, 15°06’44.9″E in the village Prečna, near Novo Mesto, Slovenia at around 3:30 p.m. on 4 March. Kos claims he found the meteorite weighing 203 grams in the driveway of his home but did not inform Bojan Ambrožič until 7 March when he heard about a meteorite search campaign organized by Ambrožič. On the same day the meteorite was given to Dr. Miha Jerška from the Museum of Natural History of Slovenia. The meteorite was revealed to the public at a press conference in the Museum of Natural History on 8 March. On 12 March it was announced that another meteorite had been found. On 10 March a 469-gram specimen was found near Novo Mesto by an anonymous finder at an undisclosed location. On 14 March a 48-gram specimen, now named ‘Gaja’, was found by the girl Gaja Urek Ekart after 45 minutes of searching together with her mother in the forest northwest of Novo Mesto, near the Adria Mobil factory.

Since the meteorites are similar to other recent chondritic finds it is strongly advised to analyse the short-lived radionuclides of these meteorites to determine their terrestrial age and thus confirm that they are definitely related to the bolide on 28 February 2020. On 3 July 2020 the fall was officially registered in the Meteoritical Bulletin as Novo Mesto (L5,S5, W0/1).


Novo Mesto meteorite fall – trajectory, orbit, and fragmentation analysis from optical observations
Denis Vida, Damir Šegon, Marko Šegon, Jure Atanackov, Bojan Ambrožič, Luke McFadden, Ludovic Ferrière, Javor Kac, Gregor Kladnik, Mladen Živčić, Aleksandar Merlak, Ivica Skokić, Lovro Pavletić, Gojko Vinčić, Ivica Ćiković, Zsolt Perkó, Martino Ilari, Mirjana Malarić, and Igor Macuka

European Planetary Science Congress 2021 – Abstracts
Vol. 15, EPSC2021-139, 2021

Dashcam Detective Work Leads to Recovery of Space Rocks from Fireball over Slovenia (21 September 2021)


The first meteorite (203 grams)

Photo: Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije / Miha Jeršek

Photo: Bojan Ambrožič

Photo: Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije / Miha Jeršek

Photo: Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije / Miha Jeršek

Photo: Prirodoslovni muzej Slovenije / Miha Jeršek

Photo: Bojan Ambrožič

Slice revealing the lithology of the first find. Photo: Bojan Ambrožič

The second meteorite (469 grams)

The 469-gram meteorite photographed on 11 March 2020. Photo: Bojan Ambrožič

The 469-gram meteorite photographed on 11 March 2020. Photo: Bojan Ambrožič

The 469-gram meteorite photographed on 11 March 2020. Photo: Bojan Ambrožič

The third meteorite (48 grams)

The 48-gram meteorite photographed on 14 March 2020. Photo: Bojan Ambrožič

The 48-gram meteorite at its find location on the forest floor, photographed on 14 March 2020. Photo: Bojan Ambrožič