65 million years ago Massive impact at Chixculub, Mexico kills off dinosaurs.

48,000 BC 300,000-tonne meteorite crashes into Arizona, creating 1.2 km (0.75 mile) diameter crater.

8,000 BC Disintegrating meteoroid creates Henbury crater cluster in Australia.

AD 1492 First meteoritic fall of modern times recorded in Ensisheim, Alsace.

1871 Meteor Crater is discovered in Arizona.

1894 31-tonne Cape York meteorite found in Greenland by explorer Robert Peary.

1908 'Tunguska Event' in Siberia: fireball explodes with power of 10-15 megatonnes of TNT.

1911 Nakhla meteorite from Mars kills dog in Egypt.

1916 Gaston Ripert reports the discovery of the Chinguetti meteorite.

1920 World's largest meteorite found in Namibia: the 60-tonne Hoba West.

1924 Lacroix report on the Chinguetti fragment.

1932 Apollo, first Earth-crossing asteroid, discovered.

1947 Second largest meteroidal event of the 20th century: Sikhote-Alin.

1965 Biggest meteorite known to fall in the UK lands at Barwell, Leics.

1969 First Moon landing.

1979 Meteor: first Hollywood film to address the impact threat to Earth.

1991 Most recent meteorite fall in the UK, at Glatton, Cambs.

2000 British government announces task force to monitor near-Earth objects.