(meteorobs) Meteorite pix

[prospector at znet.com]

    Meteorites have several opportunities to gain heat, first from the sun
in space where the sunlight side can reach 120C/248F. The cool side will
limit heating but once ablation (where it is not heated) is finished, the
meteorite is then still in hyperersonic flight for some time where the
meteorite will be heated. So a meteorite may be hot or cold depending on
the individual circomstances of time in the shadow of the Earth, angle of
fall, size of meteorite, and composition.
                                    Dave English
                                Oceanside, California


Quoting Robert Hamlin <Robert.Hamlin at Dartmouth.EDU>:

> Interesting indeed -- it's a question that puzzled me as well.  I have
> heard that reentry will heat up only the outermost layer, however, and
> that the object itself would not be hot enough to melt ice.  Given that
> the meteorite fragment had remained on the ice sheet for some time before
> being discovered, could it have been warmed enough by the sun to melt
> into the surface of the ice sheet?  I suppose it's also possible that the
> surface of the ice melted during the warm afternoon and refroze.
>
> --- "bob71741" wrote:
> That's an interesting 1st photo of Ellen looking at the meteorite in
> the frozen pond. I would have thought that the meteorite would have
> bounced off of the ice on initial impact leaving an impact crater, but
> the photo shows that a crater exists by the raised edge around the
> meteorite; or, perhaps that is refrozen water from the heat of the
> meteorite where the meteorite terminally ended up at.
>
> Never-the-less very interesting.
>
> Bob
> --- end of quote ---
>
>
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