Forget David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars - this is Glasgow's very own 'space oddity'.

It may be hard to believe but more than 200 years ago, the High Possil area of Glasgow was hit by a meteorite.

Not a bird, not a plane but a burning lump of extra-terrestrial rock.

But unless you take a walk round Possil Loch, near Lambhill Stables, you will never stumble across the 2005 stone commemorating the event.

It is tucked away - not signposted - at the side of a path and the inscription reads: "The High Possil Meteorite. Near this site on 5th April 1804 fell the first recorded meteorite in Scotland. It can be seen in the Huntarian (sp) Museum, University of Glasgow."

In truth it was a small piece of rock, only a few inches in diameter, and caused hardly any damage when it hit earth at the former High Possil quarry.

But it gave the half dozen workers - and a couple of boys walking their dog - one almighty fright.

They heard what sounded like a cannon being fired, then the sound of a gong, then a "violently whizzing noise", then a crash as it hit the ground.

The quarry overseer was so alarmed he called out to one of his colleagues who was up a tree: "Come down, I think there is some judgement coming upon us."

When it did land, it hit a water drain near the quarry, making a hole in the surface, and split in two. It caused little fuss and the two broken parts were kept by the farm owner Robert Crawford.

But the word soon reached the scientific community and study on the seemingly unremarkable piece of rock became hugely important in developing knowledge about the solar system.

The rock is 5000 million years old and although it is extra-terrestrial it consists mainly of minerals found on earth.

They include feldspar, copper and chromite.

The Hunterian Museum has the meteorite on display. The British Museum has a piece and so do other research institutions round the world.