Matthias M. M. Meier
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mmmmeier.bsky.social
Matthias M. M. Meier
@mmmmeier.bsky.social
3K followers 1.1K following 1.4K posts
Meteorites, Museums, Mars, Mountains and many more things. Meteoriticist, Noble Gaser, Space Nerd, Family Man. Director of the Natural History Museum of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Private account (en/de).
🇨🇭🇸🇪🇲🇫🇪🇺🇺🇦 orcid.org/0000-0002-7179-4173
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mmmmeier.bsky.social
The Natural History Museum of St. Gallen has now officially become an Anomalocaris hunting ground! 👀😊🤘🌍
A life-sized, ca. half-meter long, model of an Anomalocaris, a arthropod hunter from the Cambrian, is seen in a museum setting. Underneath, a group of three Pikaia (also models, under glass) tries to escape. In the background, more objects can be seen, among them, trolobites and a dinosaur skeletton mount.
November 5, 2025 at 10:39 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
In the light of recent news...
This comic depicts the "death knocking" meme, where a grim reaper (labelled JWST here) is knocking on a door (labelled Trappist-1e here). Three other doors (labelled Trappist-1b, Trappist-1c, Trappist-1d) are already open, with some blood covering the floor.
September 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Twingi gorge near Binn, Valais, Switzerland.
A valley with steep slopes covered by forest, and a river (the Binna) bareley visible at its bottom, barely visible. In the left foreground, a large tree casts its branches through the picture, in the back of the valley, a single, pointy peak stands against a blue, clouded sky. The atmosphere of the image is serene, calm, sunny, and you can almost smell the pine trees.
August 2, 2025 at 2:33 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Märjelen, near Aletsch glacier, Valais, Switzerland - today. Congrats to us for doing this hike with our four-year-old... (and his older siblings, who loved it)
A flat pond, with some stones, some plants, perhaps flowers, on some worn down rocks the glacier left behind when it retreated in the 19th century. In the background, the white vastness of the Aletsch glacier, streaked with dark moraines, between dark, partially snowcaped mountains. A blue, yet slightly cloudy sky stands above, and in the reflection of the pond.
July 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Above Chur, Canton of Grisons, Switzerland. Small but beautiful hike with the team.
Two trees obstruct the view over a green mountain valley, with a small city in the distance. A rock, grass and some smaller trees are in the foreground. There will be rain, later... A view over the city of Chur in Switzerland. A mountain flank rises in the background, and some dramatic clouds are doing their thing above.
June 25, 2025 at 7:37 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Good morning and happy pride month to all of you humans out there from me and my little buddy, a colorful bug from our current exhibition on arthropods! (and thank you to the anonymous kid who made it!)
A colorful and joyful bug made from paper (colored by crayon in all rainbow colors) and some fluffy colorful legs,pinned to a blue background.
June 2, 2025 at 6:08 AM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Lake Thun near Sigriswil, Canton of Bern, Switzerland.
A panoramic view of blue-green Lake Thunersee in Switzerland, a dark/bright green forest in the foreground, with the pyramid-shaped Niesen mountain rising behind the lake and some clouds making dramatic shapes in the sky above.
May 11, 2025 at 11:36 AM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Woah. "Willard" is huge. Bigger than any other triceratops, apparently. At #SauriermuseumAathal.
A giant triceratops (partial) fossil recobstruction, illuminated in glowing pink and blue colors, "Willard", at Sauriermuseum Aathal, Switzerland.
April 10, 2025 at 4:41 PM
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On the way back to Muscat, we visited the fort and castle of the ancient city of Nizwa, for a long time the seat of the Sultan of Oman. This is a beautiful country, full of potential. I hope to return there some day soon, with a new science project. And next time, I *will* find some meteorites! 😉
Th Nizwa fort seen from inside. A high, circular wall surrounds an interior area of about 50 m diameter, with some buildings on the area and a white flagpole that is higher than the image. In the distance behind the wall, a brown mountain range is visible.
February 9, 2025 at 8:30 AM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
There is no such thing as an "almost" meteorite. But I thought this one was a really good candidate, but no: its a chert. So many cherts, camel dropings, charcoal, other dark stones. But no real meteorite today. Oh well. Back to Muscat tomorrow.
A black rock lies on a light, sandy ground, with a pen for scale nearby. The pen is about 5 times the length of the rock.
February 7, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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Getting up with the sun today, after spending the night out in the desert. A new day for a new meteorite search!
February 7, 2025 at 4:02 AM
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Today, we searched for meteorites - a known fall from 2022. Have you ever searched your car keys on a parking lot, for hours in the hot sun? Thats what it was like. Minus the key, plus a meteorite that perhaps isn't even there. Today, we had no luck. We'll probably try again tomorrow.
A very flat plane in the desert, a bright, almost white ground under a slightly cloudy sky. Two people are walking on it, looking away.
February 6, 2025 at 2:09 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Yesterday, we arrived in Sahmah, to service a second camera there. Here you see Martin Cupak from Curtin University, Perth accessing the camera computer like the true desert hacker he is.
In the desert, a pick-up is seen from the back, parked next to a concrete small building, with a camera installation on top. A man in bright clothing and a hat is standing on the back of the pickup, facing the camera, with his hands on a keyboard and his eyes on a screen, both plugged in at the camera installation. Also, a desk with some electronic equipment, tapes and cables is seen in the foreground.
February 6, 2025 at 3:28 AM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
After picking up some supplies, we drove to Saih Rawl. On the roof of a building there, we find the first of several allsky cameras (part of the global fireball network, gfo.rocks) we want to service on this trip. Beda Hofmann, Anna Zappatini and Urs Eggenberger, all from NHM Bern, are seen here.
Three people standing on the roof of a building under a bright sky, contemplating a technical installation at the center of the image.
February 5, 2025 at 5:37 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
I arrived in Oman on Tuesday morning, united with the rest of the group, and we immediately left for the south, crossing through what geologists know as the Omani ophiolithe, a giant piece of seafloor basalts and carbonates that were thrusted onto the continental crust in this region.
A view of the coastal mountain range of Oman, with brown, bare, rocky peaks in the back, gravel and some green bushes in the foreground.
February 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Hello there.
An Oman Air 787-9 Dreamliner jet seen through a glass window at Zurich Airport at night. Some passers-by inside the building are seen as reflections.
February 3, 2025 at 7:06 PM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Give me a single image from a film that immediately makes you hear the song from the soundtrack in your head.
It is dark in Tolkiens Middle Earth. After discovering that the wizard Saruman killed many trees for his Orc factory at Isengard, the Ents attack the factory. Many ents are seen steping over the charred ground, one of them, in the image center, called Treebeard, carries two Hobbits.
December 12, 2024 at 7:06 AM
mmmmeier.bsky.social
Got some fresh, cool mountain air today. Aescher, Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Switzerland.
The Aescher, a hut/small mountain restaurant made with wood, sits cuddled to the base of a steep, overhanging rock wall on the right hand side. A grass-covered slope with some snow on it lies underneath it. A narrow trail in the foreground, with some guardrails, leads to the hut. The sky, only visible on the left hand side, is cloudy/foggy.
November 12, 2024 at 7:02 PM
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If you see this, post a picture taken in the mountains.

The Aletsch glacier near Riederfurka, canton of Valais, Switzerland.
A glacier winds its way in the middle of a barren, rocky valley, with snow-capped peaks in the distance under a slightly cloudy sky. In front of it, a forested mountain flank sets a contrast to glacier and mountains with various greens.
October 28, 2024 at 7:06 AM
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chocolate cheese
Pictures of continental USA and the world atlas with text: tell me where you are from using only two words.
October 24, 2024 at 7:34 AM
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If you wonder what the Blinna looks like - this is it. 😉
A wild mountain river in its bed full of boulders of different sizes, with snow-capped mountains in the distance.
September 29, 2024 at 7:12 PM
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Valley of the Blinna, canton of Valais, Switzerland, today.
A field of pink flowers along a path in a valley, which leads to snow-capped mountains in the distance. The flanks of the valley are coverd in dark green forests.
September 29, 2024 at 7:04 PM
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Cool! 😃
Full disk image of Mars, taken during closest approach to Earth in 2003.
September 15, 2024 at 3:06 PM
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Hello, big boy!
The giant Mammoth of Siegsdorf (Bavaria, Germany), or rather its reconstructed skeletton, taking the center place in a room of the communal Mammoth Museum.
September 3, 2024 at 3:55 PM
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A landscape shaped by microorganisms, water, ice - and humans.
In the Swiss mountains, a modern terminus station of a cable car overviews the valley below. Under its foundations, the mountain is composed of layered calcite rocks.
August 30, 2024 at 4:17 PM