On October 6, 2008, Richard Kowalski discovered the now famous asteroid 2008 TC₃ at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona. Soon thereafter, it became clear that this minor planet would hit the Earth's atmosphere within a few hours time: So this was the first asteroid that was seen in space before it eventually collided with our home planet.

Richard Kowalski at Meteor Crater
Photo by Sara Cole

Much to the surprise of most scientists, who beleived that no fragments of this body reached the Earth's surface, a number of small meteorites originating form this asteroid have been recovered in northern Sudan. The strewnfield of the meteorite, which is now known under the name Almahata Sitta, has been discoevered by Dr. Mauwia Shaddad (University of Khartoum) and Dr. Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center). The scientists and their team recovered numerous fragments of meteoritic material, totalling nearly 4 kilograms. A small amount of samples was also receovered by a private meteorite collector.

The goal of this initiative is to purchase a sample of the Almahata Sitta meteorite for Richard Kowalski, honoring his discovery that started a chain of events that is unique in the world of natural sciences.

Herbert Raab

Herbert Raab is an amateur astronomer in Austria. He knows Richard Kowalski since those days when he was a hobby astronomer observing minor plantes with his backyard telescope.