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Re: (meteorobs) AMS Electronic Circular, Winter 1998
Reading the last AMS Electronic Circular (well done, Jim!) I came across a
statement that really puzzled me:
> The size of the original object was probably from meter-size to a small
> house. After the object had penetrated nearly 200 km (125 miles) of
> atmosphere it came to an explosive fragmentation at an altitude of 14 km (9
> miles). Nearby eyewitnesses noticed that more than twenty larger fragments
> continued in the original direction, still moving fast enough to ionize the
> air around them, until they disappeared behind the local horizon (zenith
> distance 87ø), equal to an altitude of 3.5 km (2.2 miles). The calculated
> fall area has an altitude of 1400-1500 meters (4200-4500 feet) and is
> located on the icecap.
Fireballs at altitudes below 20 km are extremely rare. If my memory is
right, the Peekskill, Lost City and Innisfree bolides all ended up above
20 km altitude and only the Pribham fireball got down to 15 km or so.
Here, however, it is stated, that the meteoroid fragmented at 14 km
and was still seen at an altitude of 3.5 km.
Couldn't it be that there is something wrong with the trajectory
computation? Have the Czech (Ceplecha, Spurny) or other fireball
experts been involved in these investigations?
Sirko
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