(meteorobs) Meteorite origins?

Marco Langbroek marco.langbroek at wanadoo.nl
Sat May 29 14:45:53 EDT 2004


> Dr Russell described the probable origin of meteorites and the split, in
> order of quantity, was between material originating from asteroids, the
> Moon and Mars. Material of cometary origin didn't get a mention.
>
> Given that the majority(?) of meteor showers are associated with comets,
> is this assertion correct, and if so, is this thought to be because
> comets are largely composed of volatile material - which seldom survives
> atmospheric entry?

Hello David,

Some of the rare carbonaceous chondrite classes could be related to comets,
although that is disputed. In general, most believe that all meteorites are
either of asteroidal origin (the vast majority), or originate from the moon
and Mars.

The reason cometary material is not likely to be present in our meteorite
collections include the reason you give above; but another important reason
is, that cometary meteoroids in general enter the atmosphere at much higher
speeds (up to 70 km/s) than asteroidal material. And even among the
asteroidal materials, it are only the slow (< ~27 km/s) and large objects
which survive. Your typical cometary particle at >30 km/s has no chance of
survival. It will create a nice meteor but nothing to pick up at ground
level.

- Marco

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Marco Langbroek
Dutch Meteor Society (DMS)
Leiden, the Netherlands
52.15896 N, 4.48884 E (WGS 84)

e-mail: meteorites at dmsweb.org
DMS website: http://www.dmsweb.org
priv. website: http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek
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