(meteorobs) Tumbling meteoroids? Tumbling meteors?

Chris Peterson clp at alumni.caltech.edu
Sun Aug 28 11:49:24 EDT 2011


Everything in the Universe spins, and that includes meteoroids. Usually, 
"spin" means to rotate about a single axis, and "tumble" means to rotate 
about more than one axis. Many, perhaps most, meteoroids also tumble 
while in space.

Certainly, the aerodynamics of a meteoroid in the atmosphere will alter 
the spin/tumble behavior. That means that it may be introduced, or more 
commonly, stabilized from a tumble to a simple spin or fixed 
orientation. There are a number of papers on this subject.

Chris

*******************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

On 8/27/2011 1:54 PM, Thomas Ashcraft wrote:
> Questions:
>
> Are meteoroids generally tumbling in space?
>
> When a meteoroid/meteor enters into the Earth's atmosphere can the
> atmosphere or ionosphere itself cause any tumbling?
>
> Thomas in New Mexico


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